HM Treasury

Welfare Tax Credits

Frank Field: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the merits of requiring HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to send an automatic acknowledgement to tax credit claimants who submit their renewals online; and if he will make it HMRC policy to not suspend tax credit claims until HMRC have evidence that claimants have received and then failed to respond to their communications.

Elizabeth Truss: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) use SMS to provide acknowledgment of receipt for all tax credit renewals where there is a valid mobile phone number held. In addition, this year HMRC offered e-mail acknowledgments to all customers submitting their renewal online through the digital service.Only after making significant efforts to obtain a reply from the customer would HMRC seek to stop tax credit payments.

Cars: Sales

Iain Stewart: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the risks to the economy posed by the growth of personal contract purchase finance deals for new car sales.

Stephen Barclay: The government established an independent Financial Policy Committee (FPC), giving the FPC a primary objective to identify, monitor and take action to remove or reduce systemic risks with a view to protecting and enhancing financial stability. Following its most recent policy meeting on 21 June, the FPC published the Financial Stability Report (FSR). The FSR assessed recent trends in the consumer credit market including dealership car finance. The FSR noted that consumer credit and dealership car finance has been growing rapidly, but that loss rates on consumer credit lending are low at present.

Landlords: Tax Evasion

Frank Field: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the amount of tax revenue lost through landlords not (a) properly declaring rent and (b) registering for self-assessment.

Mel Stride: The information requested is not held. However some relevant information on landlords in PAYE but not registered for self-assessment is available in the Measuring tax gaps methodological annex at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/measuring-tax-gapsPlease refer to table H.5 on page 55.

Financial Services

Tom Brake: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has undertaken an impact assessment of the effect on the UK financial sector of the UK leaving the single market.

Stephen Barclay: The Government has conducted analysis of over 50 sectors of the economy, including financial services. The Government has recently published a series of papers, and will be publishing further papers, which set out the UK’s approach to our new deep and special partnership with the EU. These papers are designed to provide citizens and businesses at home and across Europe with a deeper understanding of our thinking and draw on the extensive and diverse engagement the Government has sought from external parties.

Charities: VAT

Jo Churchill: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the rate of VAT collected from accident rescue charities in the last 12 months.

Mel Stride: HM Revenue and Customs does not hold information on VAT revenues from charities that can be broken down to the requested level of detail.

Treasury: European Union

Peter Dowd: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what meetings he has had with EU officials since 8 June 2017.

Stephen Barclay: The Chancellor of the Exchequer meets with EU officials on a regular basis, including at the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) and other international fora, where they discuss a range of policy issues. Details of ministers’ overseas travel is published quarterly and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel.

Taxation: Domicil

Peter Dowd: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of protecting overseas trusts in the draft provisions on deemed domicile for tax purposes.

Mel Stride: The cost of protecting income and gains that arise and remain within a non-resident trust which is set up by a non-domiciled individual who later becomes deemed-UK domiciled form part of the wider package costed as part of the non-dom reforms. The figures for the full package are set out in Table 2.2 of Spring Budget 2017 under two rows: “Non-domiciles: abolish permanent status” and “Non-domicile: IHT on UK residential property. They have been certified by the Office for Budget Responsibility. Measure2017 to 20182018 to 20192019 to 20202020 to 20212021 to 2022Non-dom: abolish permanent status-£20m£410m£330m£315m£310mNon-dom: IHT on UK residential property£25m£80m£50m£55m£65m

Taxation: Multinational Companies

Frank Field: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he expects to implement public country-by-country reporting.

John McDonnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that multinational firms file public reports on their dealings, country by country; and whether these steps affect the UK's negotiations strategy on the UK leaving the EU.

Mel Stride: The UK is seeking multilateral agreement on a model of public country-by-country reporting (CBCR). It is important that there is a level of international support and co-ordination that leads to both domestic and foreign headquartered groups being required to report information for a comprehensive range of countries in which they operate. The UK has raised public CBCR with international partners and will continue to do so, including at EU level. The Government remains determined to get the very best deal for businesses and households during the negotiations with the EU.

Multinational Companies: Tax Avoidance

Frank Field: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to prevent multinational companies using the transfer pricing method to avoid paying taxes.

Mel Stride: The transfer pricing rules set out how transactions between connected parties are priced for tax purposes. In common with most countries the UK rules are based on the internationally recognized arm’s length principle. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) challenges arrangements that do not allocate the right amount of profits to the UK. The Government has led the way in taking action to ensure multinational companies pay their fair share of taxes. We played a critical role in establishing the OECD project to strengthen international tax standards to help counter base erosion and profit shifting. The Government has gone further by taking a lead in the implementation of measures to address that profit shifting, for example, introducing the Diverted Profits Tax (DPT). This measure encourages businesses that are using contrived arrangements to minimise their tax liabilities, to change those behaviours or face paying tax at a higher rate. HMRC deploys specialist staff to deal with international tax risks, including transfer pricing and diversion of profits. These experts work with other industry experts and tax specialists to tackle all international tax issues that represent substantial risk of tax loss to the Exchequer. HMRC also works with other tax authorities, sharing information and expertise, to identify risk and challenge arrangements. The recent introduction of Country by Country reporting will also increase the information available to HMRC and assist their risk assessment processes to identify these tax risks.

Turkey: Customs

Matthew Pennycook: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he or officials of his Department have had with the Turkish Government about that country's customs agreement with the EU.

Mel Stride: UK Officials in the Department for International Trade, the Department for Exiting the EU, the UK Permanent Representation to the EU, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have met officials of the Republic of Turkey where discussion on this matter were held.

Office for National Statistics

Jonathan Edwards: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the issuing of a provisional ruling by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) as set out in section 6 paragraph 49 of the ONS Classification Process Guidelines, January 2016, requires all relevant documentation to be in near-final form and for a decision in principle in favour of Government support to have been made.

Elizabeth Truss: The guidance referenced is now archived and the most relevant guidance is “UK economic statistics sector and transaction classifications: the classification process” on the Office for National Statistics website https://www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/classificationsandstandards/economicstatisticsclassifications/ukeconomicstatisticssectorandtransactionclassificationstheclassificationprocess Section 6 of the paper - Government Policy Proposals states – “Most policy proposals are in a near-final form when presented to ONS and will include all the relevant details to enable ONS to make a judgement. Any classification decision based on a near-final policy proposal will be deemed as “provisional” and dependent on the proposal being implemented as described. If the circumstances change, it is the responsibility of the proposing department to inform ONS via the HM Treasury Public Expenditure Classification Branch.However, on rare occasions, government departments might seek a view on a proposal at an early stage of development. In such cases, ONS will provide provisional advice on the expected classification of the proposal, based on information available at the time. This is subject to the qualification that a final decision will not be reached until such a time as the policy is implemented. In the interim, ONS will only consider alternative versions of the same proposal exceptionally and if substantial and significant changes have been made. Any explanatory article published on the final policy proposal will note how many versions of the proposal ONS considered. Final classification decisions will be published when the policy has been announced or implemented by the government.”

Office for National Statistics

Jonathan Edwards: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the issuing of provisional advice on the expected classification of a proposal at an early stage of development as set out in section 6 paragraph 49 of the Office for National Statistics Classification Process Guidelines, January 2016, is dependent upon all relevant documentation being in a near-final form and a decision in principle to offer Government support having been made.

Elizabeth Truss: The guidance referenced is now archived and the most relevant guidance is “UK economic statistics sector and transaction classifications: the classification process” on the Office for National Statistics website https://www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/classificationsandstandards/economicstatisticsclassifications/ukeconomicstatisticssectorandtransactionclassificationstheclassificationprocess Section 6 of the paper - Government Policy Proposals states – “Most policy proposals are in a near-final form when presented to ONS and will include all the relevant details to enable ONS to make a judgement. Any classification decision based on a near-final policy proposal will be deemed as “provisional” and dependent on the proposal being implemented as described. If the circumstances change, it is the responsibility of the proposing department to inform ONS via the HM Treasury Public Expenditure Classification Branch.However, on rare occasions, government departments might seek a view on a proposal at an early stage of development. In such cases, ONS will provide provisional advice on the expected classification of the proposal, based on information available at the time. This is subject to the qualification that a final decision will not be reached until such a time as the policy is implemented. In the interim, ONS will only consider alternative versions of the same proposal exceptionally and if substantial and significant changes have been made. Any explanatory article published on the final policy proposal will note how many versions of the proposal ONS considered. Final classification decisions will be published when the policy has been announced or implemented by the government.”

Motor Vehicles: Exhaust Emissions

John Spellar: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his Department had with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs before the announcement of a ban on petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040.

Andrew Jones: My Department works closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in developing the Government’s response to the shared challenges of improving air quality and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Government announced an intention to end the sale of all new conventional cars and vans by 2040 as part of the ‘UK plan for tackling roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations’ (July 2017). My Department engaged closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department for Transport and other relevant departments to draft and agree this Plan, including at Ministerial level.

Customs Declaration Services Programme

Stephen Gethins: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost of the creation and first five years of running the Customs Declarations Services programme.

Mel Stride: The estimated cost of investment to deliver and run the Customs Declaration Service up to 2022 is £133 million, reflecting total development and operating costs as published in the National Audit Office report in July 2017. The estimated cost is based on latest 2017 Outline Business Case.

Customs Declaration Services Programme

Stephen Gethins: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the economic effect of the time taken to implement the Customs Declarations Services programme.

Mel Stride: HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC’s) Customs Declaration Service (CDS) programme has been reviewed by the Infrastructure & Projects Authority and the National Audit Office. These plans are on track but not without risk, as is normal for any programme of this size, and contingency planning has been carried out to ensure the successful delivery of the new CDS system without significant impact on the smooth running of the UK’s international trade. HMRC has a strategy for moving customers to CDS. This has been reached through extensive stakeholder and customer engagement, working closely with key partners in international trade. Our guiding design principles are to ensure minimal change to processes and minimal disruption to operations to reduce burdens on business. There is still a year to go before customers will start transitioning to the new CDS system. The timetable for implementation has been discussed and influenced by trade partners and key customers to fit with their preferred lead in times where changes to their systems were unavoidable.

Landlords: Tax Evasion

Peter Dowd: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many landlords in the UK are currently persons of interest to HM Revenue and Customs.

Mel Stride: HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC’s) Customer Compliance Group (CCG) are responsible for the majority of the enforcement and compliance type activity and have carried out successful campaign activity in the rental sector, however HMRC are unable to answer the specific question without incurring disproportionate costs. HMRC launched the Let Property Campaign in 2013; it is focused on the residential property letting market. It aims to help landlords to get their tax right from day one, keeping them on track, and offering an opportunity to address previous errors. It is highly successful at both providing educational material to prevent tax loss and enabling landlords to bring their affairs up to date. It has raised over £115m in additional tax, interest and penalties to December 2016.

Treasury: Loans

Peter Dowd: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many bilateral loans his Department has made since 2010; what amount was loaned in each case; and what amount has been paid back in each case.

Andrew Jones: The only bilateral loan which the UK government has provided since 2010 is the bilateral loan to Ireland. Information about this loan is provided in the most recent statutory report which the Treasury provided to Parliament as required by Section 2 of the Loans to Ireland Act 2010. The last report was laid in Parliament on 18 April 2017 and is available in the Printed Paper Office.

Whisky: Scotland

Stephen Gethins: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if the Government will match EU funding levels for the Scotch whisky industry to fund the promotion of food and drink geographical indications or protected designations of origin and rural development after the UK leaves the EU.

Andrew Jones: Scotch whisky producers are currently eligible to apply for EU funding under the Scottish Rural Development Programme. The UK government has provided guarantees for rural development and agri-environment schemes that are signed before the UK leaves the EU. We are offering the devolved administrations the same level of reassurance as we are offering to UK government departments in relation to programmes they administer but for which they expected to rely on EU funding.In the longer term, decisions on funding will be taken in light of wider UK strategic priorities and other domestic spending decisions.

Alcoholic Drinks: Excise Duties

Stephen Gethins: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government plans to change alcohol taxation structures and levels after the UK leaves the EU; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones: Until exit negotiations are concluded, the UK remains a full member of the European Union and all the rights and obligations of EU membership remain in force. We will seek to achieve the right deal for Britain and for the EU.

Taxation: Malawi

David Linden: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to update the UK's tax treaty with Malawi.

Mel Stride: I refer the Hon member to my previous responses on this subject (3735; 3736; 3737; 3738)

Electric Vehicles: Excise Duties

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment has been made of the treatment of electric vehicles with a list price of more than £40,000 under the new vehicle excise duty system on the uptake of electric vehicles.

Andrew Jones: We do not yet have data on how many electric vehicles have been registered since 1 April 2017, the date from which the new VED system applies. However, 5,274 battery electric cars were registered in the first four months of 2017, compared to 10,242 in the whole of 2016.

Insurance Premium Tax

David Linden: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 17 July 2017 to Question 4505, if he will make it his Department's policy to (a) monitor behavioural responses resulting from any change associated to prices of general insurance products following the recent increase in insurance premium tax and to (b) publish the findings of such monitoring.

Mel Stride: Pricing is a commercial decision for insurers which is affected by a wide range of factors and the taxes that insurers have to pay are just one part of this.

Public Finance

David Linden: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, in what year he plans to eliminate the deficit; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Barclay: The government remains committed to the fiscal rules set out at the 2016 Autumn Statement which will guide us, via interim targets in 2020-21, back to balance by the middle of the next decade.

Taxation: Multinational Companies

David Linden: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect on the public purse of the potential tax underpayment of £24.8 billion in 2016-17 by large companies identified by HM Revenue and Customs in August 2017; and if he will make a statement.

Mel Stride: At 31 March 2017 the amount of Tax Under Consideration for enquiries by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) into the largest companies was £24.8 bn. Tax Under Consideration (TUC) is an HMRC measure on the maximum amount of tax that could potentially be collected from HMRC’s enquiries. TUC changes over time as enquiries progress and HMRC develop more certainty about the actual tax that needs to be paid. The TUC figure is different from the tax gap, which is the amount of tax HMRC legally expects to collect each year and the amount they actually collect. The UK’s overall tax gap has shown a long term fall, from 8.3% in 2005-06 to 6.5% in 2014-15 - one of lowest figures in the OECD.

Staff: Industrial Democracy

John McDonnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress the Government is making on its plans for changes in the structure of employee representation; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss: Modern companies rely on many stakeholders to be successful, including shareholders, employees and wider society. The UK already has a requirement in existing company law that these wider stakeholders be taken into account. To ensure companies are taking advantage of this best practice, the government will require Directors to explain how they are representing the interests of wider stakeholders. In addition, the government has asked the Financial Reporting Council to examine potential changes to the corporate governance code in order to further strengthen the voice of stakeholders.

Managers: Pay

John McDonnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress the Government is making on its plans for increased transparency on executive pay; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss: A clear, dependable and modern corporate governance framework is one of the major strengths of the UK as a place to do business and further transparency can help strengthen this framework further. The government recently announced its plan to modernise the corporate governance framework, which will include requiring public companies to publish ratios of the difference in pay between the CEO and the average worker.

Tax Avoidance

John McDonnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Government's strategy to tackle tax avoidance; and what recent estimate he has made of the effect of that strategy on the revenues derived from overall taxation.

Mel Stride: The Government is committed to tackling tax avoidance and evasion at all levels to ensure everyone, no matter who they are, pays the right amount of tax at the right time. Our strategy is working. Last year, HMRC brought in a record additional £29 billion by cracking down on avoidance, evasion and non-compliance. At 6.5%, the UK’s tax gap is one of the lowest in the world. And we are legislating for over ten measures in the upcoming Finance Bill to further crackdown on those who try to avoid or evade paying the tax that is owed.

Taxation: Advisory Bodies

John McDonnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress the Government is making on its plans for increased regulation of tax advisory firms; and if he will make a statement.

Mel Stride: The Government continues to consider options for regulation to tackle tax avoidance and evasion at all levels to ensure everyone, no matter who they are, pays the right amount of tax at the right time. Tax advisory firms have a key role to play in tackling these risks. The Government has committed to set up a new Office of Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Sectors at risk of being used to facilitate money laundering and terrorist financing are supervised by 25 organisations, 22 of which are professional bodies for accountancy and providers of legal services. Last year, HMRC brought in a record additional £29 billion by cracking down on avoidance, evasion and non-compliance and we continue to explore what more we can do to reduce what is already one of the lowest tax gaps in the world.

Cybercrime: VAT

John McDonnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress the Government is making on its plans for measures to reduce online fraud in VAT; and if he will make a statement.

Mel Stride: At Budget 2016, the Government announced a package of measures to tackle VAT non-compliance by overseas businesses that sell goods via online marketplaces to UK customers. We took swift action to make online marketplaces jointly and severally liable for the unpaid VAT of overseas sellers. We also announced the introduction of the fulfilment house due diligence scheme. This is on track to open for registration next year. Together these two measures will deliver £875 million for the Exchequer by 2021. At Spring Budget 2017, the Government published a call for evidence on the case for a new VAT collection mechanism for online sales by overseas sellers. This would harness technology to allow VAT to be extracted directly by the Exchequer from online transactions at the point of purchase. This means the VAT would never get into the hands of the overseas seller.

Non-domestic Rates

John McDonnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress the Government is making on its plans for changes in business rates and self-evaluations; and if he will make a statement.

Mel Stride: The government is working with businesses and local authorities to deliver its aim to move to more frequent revaluations. The government will then set out its preferred approach for a smoother and more frequent system of revaluation.

Taxation

John McDonnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to work with banks and the financial sector to improve tax transparency.

Mel Stride: The Government is committed to improving tax transparency, and working with the financial sector and other intermediaries to achieve this objective. The Government has led the way in delivering the global Common Reporting Standard (CRS) which means foreign financial account providers have an obligation to report the accounts of UK resident taxpayers. The Government has also strengthened the Code of Practice on Taxation for Banks in 2013, so that banks’ commitments not to engage in or promote UK tax avoidance can be better enforced.

Taxation: British Overseas Territories

John McDonnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to help improve the tax transparency of Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories.

Mel Stride: The Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories (CDOTs) are self-governing with democratically elected governments who are responsible for fiscal matters. All CDOTs with a financial centre are committed to agreed global standards on tax transparency.

Overseas Residence: Taxation

John McDonnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to tackle tax avoidance and tax evasion by people and companies conducted by means of trusts which transfer trustees' residence offshore.

John McDonnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the loss of revenue to the public purse resulting from (a) tax avoidance and (b) tax evasion by people and companies via trusts.

John McDonnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of mechanisms to monitor beneficiaries or controllers of trust assets in respect of (a) tax avoidance and (b) tax evasion.

Mel Stride: I refer the Hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington to the written answers given on 6 September 2017 to his previous questions on the subject.

Charities: Minimum Wage

John McDonnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that national minimum wage regulations are being properly enforced in the charities sector (a) generally and (b) for sleep-in shift arrangements.

Mel Stride: The Government has more than trebled annual funding of minimum wage enforcement since 2014. All businesses, irrespective of size or business sector, are responsible for paying the correct minimum wage to their staff. The Government is determined that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) receives it. Anyone who feels they have been underpaid NMW or NLW should contact the Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) review all complaints that are referred to them. Additionally, HMRC collate and analyse data from various sources in order to identify those employers who are potentially more likely to be underpaying NMW or NLW, so that they can undertake targeted enforcement against those employers.

Tax Evasion: Prosecutions

John McDonnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of successful prosecutions for tax evasion; and if he will make a statement.

Mel Stride: In the 2015 Summer Budget, the Government announced investment of £800 million to tackle non‑compliance, including £266 million and 670 new staff to tackle tax fraud.HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are doing more to tackle organised criminals evading tax and duties and are tripling the number of criminal investigations into the most serious and complex tax crimes.To tackle enablers of offshore tax evasion, new civil sanctions have been introduced to include public naming and penalties of up to 100% of the tax evaded.In addition new criminal offences to address corporate complicity in facilitating tax evasion were legislated for in the Criminal Finances Act 2017. These offences take effect from 30 September 2017.This all builds on our earlier investment in HMRC which enabled it to achieve a seven-fold increase in the number of prosecutions over the Spending Review 2010 period.Last year this work protected over £2.3bn of vital public revenue.

Treasury: Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of requests for consultancy and temporary staff for his Department were approved via a resource board.

Andrew Jones: HMT does not have a resource board. Consultancy above £20k and less than 9 months in term is subject to Ministerial sign-off, with legal services (same thresholds) delegated to head of Treasury Legal Advisers for approval Any requirement above £20k and longer than 9 months is subject to wider Government and Ministerial approval as per the controls guidance

Treasury: Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether requests for consultancy and temporary staff for the his Department must be accompanied by a formal business case.

Andrew Jones: Requests for approving consultancy and temporary staff do not require a formal business case, but do require justification of the cost and the benefits, and assessment of need before any decision to proceed is taken.

Revenue and Customs: Redundancy Pay

Jon Trickett: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to page 123 of the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Annual Report and Accounts 2016-17, how much of the £27,482,000 paid to HMRC staff in exit packages was paid to (a) men and (b) women.

Mel Stride: As reported in the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Annual Report and Accounts 2016-17, the total amount paid to HMRC (Core department) and VOA (Agency) staff in exit packages was £27,482,000. The total paid to HMRC staff was £25,080,467. Of this figure, £8,488,638 was paid to men and £16,591,829 was paid to women. In 2016-17 98% of HMRC exits were voluntary.

Sovereign Wealth Funds

Frank Field: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department has taken to establish a national sovereign wealth fund.

Stephen Barclay: The government is committed to supporting investment in the UK. For example, in July the government launched the £400m Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund for investment in full fibre broadband across the country. The government is also consulting on whether to introduce a national investment fund to channel investment into fast growing firms and support economic growth. In addition, the National Productivity Investment Fund announced by the Chancellor last year is providing an additional £23bn of investment in areas like housing, transport and digital infrastructure.

Overseas Loans: Developing Countries

Steve McCabe: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will introduce legislation to enshrine the UN Conference on Trade and Development principles on responsible lending and borrowing in UK law.

Stephen Barclay: The Government recognises the need for debt sustainability, and for effective debt restructuring processes where a country can no longer repay its debts. The UK engages in discussions on debt internationally and agreed to principles on debt sustainability at the G20 earlier this year. We are also committed to apply the OECD sustainable lending principles domestically. However, the Government isn’t currently planning to introduce legislation related to UN Conference on Trade and Development principles on responsible lending and borrowing.

Beer: Excise Duties

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will freeze beer duty for the remainder of the current Parliament.

Andrew Jones: The government keeps all taxes under review at fiscal events, and we will consider this issue carefully as part of the Autumn Budget process.

Motor Sports: Wales

Jonathan Edwards: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what advice his Department has given the Welsh Government on whether financial guarantees provided by the Welsh Government to the Circuit of Wales project should be considered on-balance sheet expenditure.

Elizabeth Truss: HM Treasury officials provided informal advice to the Welsh Government on the likely factors that would be considered by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) for the classification of financial guarantees for the Circuit of Wales project. It is for the Welsh Government to manage the implications for capital provision or borrowing capacity on any ONS classification of financial guarantees.

Consumer Prices Index

Jonathan Edwards: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU on the Consumer Prices Index rate of inflation.

Stephen Barclay: In their March 2017 Economic and Fiscal Outlook, the OBR forecast that CPI inflation would be 2.4% in 2017, up from 0.5% in 2016 as the depreciation in sterling and rising commodity prices fed through to higher prices. The OBR forecast inflation to be 2.3% in 2018, before falling back to 2.0% in 2019. The Government has taken action to support people with the cost of living by increasing the National Living Wage, raising the personal allowance, and freezing fuel duty.

Exchange Rates

Jonathan Edwards: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU on the Pound to Euro exchange rate.

Stephen Barclay: The UK has an inflation target, not an exchange rate target, and the government does not express a view on the level of the exchange rate. The value of sterling adjusts flexibly in response to economic conditions and market forces.

Exchange Rates

Jonathan Edwards: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU on the Pound to US Dollar exchange rate.

Stephen Barclay: The UK has an inflation target, not an exchange rate target, and the government does not express a view on the level of the exchange rate. The value of sterling adjusts flexibly in response to economic conditions and market forces.

Inflation

Jonathan Edwards: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU on the Consumer Price Index rate of inflation.

Stephen Barclay: In their March 2017 Economic and Fiscal Outlook, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast that CPI inflation would be 2.4% in 2017, up from 0.5% in 2016 as the depreciation in sterling and rising commodity prices fed through to higher prices. The OBR forecast inflation to be 2.3% in 2018, before falling back to 2.0% in 2019. The Government has taken action to support people with the cost of living by increasing the National Living Wage, raising the personal allowance, and freezing fuel duty.

Bank of England: Pay

Gareth Thomas: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the salary is of the (a) highest and (b) lowest-paid employee of the Bank of England; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Barclay: The salary of the highest paid employee of the Bank of England is £480,000 per annum, this figure can be found in the Bank of England’s Annual Report and Accounts. The lowest salary in the Bank of England’s salary ranges is £18,000 per annum, this figure can be found in the Bank of England’s Salary Scales publication.

Unemployment: Costs

Norman Lamb: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the total cost to (a) the economy, (b) government revenue and (c) public services of unemployment among (i) people with a disability, (ii) people with chronic mental health problems, (iii) ex-offenders, (iv) people who have been unemployed for a year or more, (v) care leavers and (vi) veterans.

Mel Stride: HM Treasury does not make estimates of the total cost of unemployment of specific groups. The government is committed to helping those from disadvantaged backgrounds get into work. The unemployment rate is at its lowest for over 40 years and has fallen by over 1 million since 2010. 3 million more people are in employment today than in 2010. The government’s successful labour market policies, including its effective unemployment support, has had a part in making this happen – today there are 687,000 fewer job-seeking claimants than in 2010. As a result, this year the government is forecast to spend £2.8 billion on jobseekers benefits, this is £2.2 billion pounds less than seven years ago. In addition, £15bn is forecast to be spent on the Employment and Support Allowance which is paid to those who cannot work due to illness or disability.

Taxation: Fraud

Iain Stewart: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HM Revenue and Customs applies a de minimis limit for investigating allegations of fraud.

Mel Stride: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not apply a de minimis limit to the investigation of fraud.

Trade Agreements

Tom Brake: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will update his Department's analysis of 18 April 2016, published in HM Treasury analysis: the long-term economic impact of EU membership and the alternatives, Cm 9250, on the effect of leaving the EU single market and concluding a trade deal with the EU on public sector receipts.

Stephen Barclay: The Government has undertaken a significant amount of work to assess the economic and fiscal impacts of leaving the EU. This is part of our continuing programme of rigorous and extensive analytical work covering a range of scenarios on a sector by sector basis. We are seeking the best possible deal for the United Kingdom and the work being done reflects this.

Treasury: Brexit

Tom Brake: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, which EU legislation within his Department's responsibilities will (a) be incorporated into UK law through the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill and (b) require to be amended under powers in that Bill.

Stephen Barclay: The EU Withdrawal Bill will be the primary vehicle for domesticating the financial services regime and ensuring that it can function when the UK leaves the EU. The Bill will also preserve a large body of EU law relating to customs, taxes and anti-money laundering. In the case of customs duty, VAT and excise, the domesticated EU law will be replaced under the Customs Bill.

Managers: Pay

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to regulate pay rises for managers of large companies.

Elizabeth Truss: The government’s role should be to ensure the legal and institutional framework supports shareholders in holding executives to account. To further this goal, the government recently unveiled a series of measures to increase accountability and transparency in the setting of corporate pay. Including a register of firms where shareholders have significantly dissented against the level of corporate pay. Also, the government recently announced its plan to modernise the corporate governance framework, which will include requiring public companies to publish ratios of the difference in pay between the CEO and the average worker.

Debts

Sir David Crausby: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the level of personal debt (a) in total, (b) per household and (c) as a proportion of GDP for the latest period available and for each of the five previous financial years.

Stephen Barclay: Household debt and GDP statistics are published by the ONS, and are available here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/uksectoraccounts/timeseries/nnpp/ukeahttps://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/timeseries/ybha/pn2 In nominal terms, the level of household debt has risen over the past five years. However, it has fallen as a share of GDP. In financial year 2016-17, household debt stood at 95% of GDP, down from 98% five years ago, and 102% before the financial crisis (FY 2007/08). The independent Financial Policy Committee was set up by the government to assess and mitigate financial stability risks, including from household debt. The FPC has taken action to ensure against a significant rise in highly indebted households.

Instalment Credit: Prices

Nick Smith: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of applying a price cap on rent-to-own goods.

Nick Smith: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Financial Conduct Authority's High-cost credit and review of the high-cost short-term credit price cap Feedback Statement, published on 31 July 2017, whether his Department has a definition for essential household goods.

Nick Smith: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the level of interest rates charged on rent-to-own goods.

Stephen Barclay: The regulation of consumer credit including rent-to-own and high-cost short-term credit is a matter for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Financial services must work in the best interests of the consumers and businesses they serve, and the Government has given the FCA strong powers to protect consumers. The Government welcomes the ongoing work of the FCA to review the high-cost credit market, including the rent-to-own sector. We have passed the Member of Parliament’s questions on to the FCA, who will reply directly to him by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

NHS Foundation Trusts: VAT

John Grogan: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the amount of VAT which does not accrue to the public purse as a result of the establishment of subsidiary companies by NHS Foundation Trusts; and what the implications for VAT receipts would be in the event that all foundation hospital trusts set up subsidiary companies for facilities management and pharmacy provision.

Mel Stride: HM Revenue and Customs does not hold information on VAT revenues from NHS bodies that can be broken down to the requested level of detail.

Minimum Wage: Arrears

Caroline Lucas: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many of the 233 employers named by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for non-compliance with the national minimum wage on 16 August 2017 identified further arrears, not included in the sum of arrears for which they were named, under the self-correction mechanism introduced by HM Revenue and Customs in 2015; what the combined total was of such further, self-corrected arrears; and to how many workers such arrears were owed.

Mel Stride: The government is determined that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) receives it. Anyone who feels they have been underpaid NMW or NLW should contact the Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100. HMRC review all complaints that are referred to them. Of the 233 employers named on 16 August 2017, 48 paid further arrears identified through self-correction. The sum total of self-corrected arrears paid by these employers was £1,267,550. This sum was paid to 18,201 workers who had been underpaid.

Bank Services: Fees and Charges

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the (a) Competition and Markets Authority and (b) Financial Conduct Authority on overdraft fees.

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with UK Financial Investments on the charging of unarranged overdraft fees by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Stephen Barclay: Treasury Ministers and officials meet regularly with colleagues across Government, and the various regulators, to discuss a wide range of issues. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Treasury's practice to provide details of all such discussions. The Government’s shareholding in the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is managed at arm’s length from Government by UK Financial Investments (UKFI). UKFI is responsible for managing the shareholding on a wholly commercial basis, in a way that creates and protects value for the taxpayer. UKFI is not responsible, for managing the bank itself; RBS retains its own board for strategic and management decisions. Decisions on overdraft fees are solely within the remit of the bank. The Government supports the work the Financial Conduct Authority is carrying out on high-cost credit, including overdrafts, and will continue to work with them to ensure that all consumers who use high-cost credit products are treated fairly.

Public Expenditure: Wales

Stephen Kinnock: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing Barnett formula funding for Wales in line with the recent increase in funding for Northern Ireland.

Elizabeth Truss: The Barnett Formula determines changes to each devolved administration’s funding with reference to changes in DEL funding for UK government departments. There was no change in DEL funding for UK government departments as a result of the financial support announced for Northern Ireland in June 2017.

Defibrillators: VAT

Justin Tomlinson: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to exempt automated external defibrillators from VAT.

Mel Stride: Whilst it is not possible under current EU laws to exempt from VAT all purchases of defibrillators, the government does maintain several VAT reliefs to aid purchases of defibrillators. These include VAT refunds of purchases made by local authorities and VAT relief for purchases made through voluntary contributions which are donated to eligible charities or the NHS.

Pay

Alex Norris: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 24 July 2017 to HL1074, whether the estimates for average employer pension contributions used in the table given in that Answer were based on (a) all public sector and private sector employees or (b) public sector and private sector employees who are enrolled in a pension scheme.

Elizabeth Truss: This analysis was conducted by HM Treasury based on data from the ONS’s Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. Further information regarding the data on which the calculation is based can be found here https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/methodologies/annualsurveyofhoursandearningsashemethodologyandguidance

Cultural Heritage: Capital Taxes

Chris Bryant: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) buildings, (b) estates, (c) parklands and (d) objects with national (i) scientific and (ii) historic interest have been granted exemption from inheritance tax and capital gains tax in each of the last 10 years.

Mel Stride: The estimated cost of the inheritance tax exemption for heritage assets can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/main-tax-expenditures-and-structural-reliefs The cost of the capital gains tax exemption for heritage assets is not available. The legislation was introduced to protect national heritage assets. Where there has been a failure to meet the undertakings, HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC’s) approach is to work with owners in order to put things right. It has not in the last 10 years been necessary for HMRC to remove an exemption. The table below sets out the number of exemptions (by claim) granted in each year for the categories listed within the legislation over the last ten years:  Pre-eminent objects s.31(1)(a)IHTA and (aa)Land s.31(1)(b)IHTABuildings & amenity land s.31(1)(c) and (d) IHTAHistorically associated objects s.31(1)(e)IHTA2007/08123012008/0990212009/10101222010/1191202011/1272012012/1382002013/1482222014/1560222015/16142102016/1716020 Sixteen people within HMRC are involved in ensuring undertakings are adhered to.

Tax Collection

Anneliese Dodds: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure the collection of taxes that have not been paid through error by HM Revenue and Customs.

Mel Stride: HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) robustly pursues all tax due unless there are compelling reasons not to do so. Where it is discovered that tax is due or uncollected because of official error, HMRC will seek payment in the usual way where statutory time limits allow. The amount of debt remitted or written off each year is small in comparison to the record level of tax receipts.

Gaming Machines: Tax Yields

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the level of tax receipts from fixed-odds betting terminals in each of the next three years; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones: Forecasts for betting and gaming tax receipts are published by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). However, the OBR does not publish a breakdown of projected revenues from the 7 individual betting and gaming duties due to the disclosive nature of the underlying data; doing so would contravene taxpayer confidentiality rules due to the limited number of operators in certain areas of the market. For the latest forecast of revenue from betting and gaming duties, please see the ‘supplementary fiscal tables: receipts and other’ table from the OBR’s latest ‘Economic and Fiscal Outlook’ publication: http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/efo/economic-fiscal-outlook-march-2017/. This is copied below for convenience. 2.1 Other HMRC taxes £ billion OutturnForecast 2015-162016-172017-182018-192019-202020-212021-22Customs Duties3.13.43.43.53.53.53.5Betting and Gaming taxes2.82.82.82.93.03.23.2Landfill tax10.90.90.70.70.60.60.6Aggregates Levy0.30.40.40.40.40.40.4Other HMRC taxes27.17.47.37.57.67.67.7Note: All taxes are on an accrued basis.1 Excludes Scottish landfill tax.2 This is consistent with the 'other HMRC taxes' line in Table 4.6 of the March 2017 Economic and fiscal outlook.

Prime Minister

Members: Correspondence

David Linden: To ask the Prime Minister, on what date she plans to respond to the letter of 12 July 2017 from the hon. Member for Glasgow East inviting her to visit Glasgow.

Mrs Theresa May: A reply has been sent.

Donald Trump

Christian Matheson: To ask the Prime Minister, how many times since President Trump's inauguration she has made a telephone or other call to the President; and how many times she has received a telephone or other call from President Trump.

Mrs Theresa May: Dates of the telephone calls between myself and President Trump are available on the gov.uk website.

Drugs: Departmental Responsibilities

Grahame Morris: To ask the Prime Minister, if the Government will transfer responsibility for UK drugs policy from the Home Office to the Department for Health.

Mrs Theresa May: The Home Office works closely with the Department for Health on matters relating to this area of policy.

Yemen: Military Intervention

Keith Vaz: To ask the Prime Minister, whether she has had recent discussions with the Saudi Foreign Minister on ending the blockade of Yemen.

Mrs Theresa May: I refer the right hon. Member to the press release issued on 4 September following my meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir and which is available on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-meeting-with-saudi-foreign-minister-adel-al-jubeir-4-september-2017

Prime Minister: Japan

Paul Flynn: To ask the Prime Minister, which representatives of which companies accompanied her on her visit to Japan from 30 August to 1 September 2017.

Mrs Theresa May: Details of my visit to Japan including those who accompanied me on the visit can be found in the press release issued on 30 August and which is available on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-heads-to-japan-to-build-strong-post-brexit-relationship-with-toyko

Department for Work and Pensions

Employment: Autism

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to increase the proportion of people diagnosed with autism who are in full-time or part-time work.

Penny Mordaunt: DWP has worked with the Hidden Impairment National Group (HING) to develop the Hidden Impairment Toolkit, which offers information on how to best support people with Autism. DWP is an active member of the Autism Programme Board (APB), responsible for the cross-government implementation of the Think Autism strategy. DWP also helped to develop a Disability Passport - About Me - to support people with autism who are seeking jobs. DWP worked with Autism Alliance UK to deliver an Autism training programme, to over 1200 staff members in Jobcentre Plus, and to develop an Autism and Neuro-diversity toolkit which is available across the Civil Service. Finally, Improving Lives – the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper’ sets out the Government’s proposals for improving work and health outcomes for disabled people and people with long-term health conditions, including people with autism. We are now considering consultation responses and the next steps for longer term reform.

Retirement: Age

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many men and women in the most recent year for which data are available died before they reached state pension age.

Guy Opperman: The Office for National Statistics publishes annual data on deaths registered in the UK by single year of age. The latest data available for England and Wales is for 2016, whilst for the UK the latest data available is for 2015, as the 2016 data is provisional. The data tables can be found here:https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/deathregistrationssummarytablesenglandandwalesdeathsbysingleyearofagetablesIn 2015, the state pension age for women increased from around 62 years and 5 months to around 62 years and 10 months. In 2015 the state pension age for men was 65.In 2016, the state pension age for women increased from around 62 years and 11 months to around 63 years and 6 months. In 2016 the state pension age for men was 65.

State Retirement Pensions: Females

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints his Department has (a) received and (b) investigated in the last 12 months in each region from women born in the 1950s and affected by changes in state pension age; what criteria are used to determine whether a complaint is investigated; how many such investigations have been completed; and what the anticipated (i) timescale and (ii) cost is of each such investigation under way.

Guy Opperman: The number of complaints received and investigated from August 2016 to August 2017 is 3782. All complaints are investigated. We are unable to attribute the complaints to Region due to limitations of data recording. DWP contact the customer within 15 working days to tell them of the outcome or when they can expect a response, if it will take longer. The department does not hold cost figures for such investigations and these complaints are handled within the normal business of the department.

Department for Work and Pensions: Correspondence

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether private sector contractors have any role in the processing of outbound correspondence from his Department.

Caroline Dinenage: We have a number of contracts in place with private sector suppliers for the sorting, processing and delivery of the Department’s correspondence.

Social Security Benefits: Payments

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department's policy is on paying benefits to claimants who do not have a bank account.

Caroline Dinenage: Direct Payment (DP) into a bank, building society, or credit union account is the safest and most cost-effective method used to make customer benefit and pensions payments. DWP is committed to tackling financial exclusion and helping more people to move towards, and benefit from, mainstream banking but we do recognise that some customers remain unable to access or use such services. Arrangements are in place to ensure those customers can access their money.

Poverty: Females

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessments have been made of poverty rates among women aged 60 to 62.

Guy Opperman: The Department has made no such recent assessments. Assessments of the trends in low income rates for the population and its headline sub-groups are available in DWP’s Households Below Average Income survey:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-199495-to-201516

Personal Independence Payment: Medical Examinations

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many completed repeat assessments there have been of people with (a) Parkinson's disease, (b) multiple sclerosis, (c) motor neurone disease, (d) rheumatoid arthritis and (e) cystic fibrosis, by year of repeat assessment, since the introduction of personal independence payments in 2013; and if he will make a statement.

Penny Mordaunt: To answer this question, “repeat assessments” has been interpreted to mean Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) reassessments. The table below gives statistics on the number of completed DLA reassessments to PIP by year of DLA reassessment for people with (a) Parkinson's disease, (b) multiple sclerosis, (c) motor neurone disease, (d) rheumatoid arthritis and (e) cystic fibrosis. Table 1: reassessments for Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Motor neurone disease, rheumatoid arthritis and cystic fibrosis by year of reassessment (April 2013 to October 2016) 2013201420152016TotalParkinson's disease0704201,4901,980Multiple sclerosis04901,9507,71010,160Motor neurone disease040130190360Rheumatoid arthritis01,1303,8609,93014,920Cystic fibrosis040150460650Total01,1706,51019,800  October 2016 is the latest published data available. Later data is available but has been withheld as will be published as part of official statistics in December 2017.We recognise that claimants in the ESA Support Group and UC Limited Capability for Work Related Activity with the most severe health conditions or disabilities who have conditions that are unlikely to improve, and are unlikely to ever be able to move closer to the labour market and into work, are having to go through a very lengthy, stressful and bureaucratic process to claim their benefits. We are working with our assessment provider, medical professionals and other stakeholders, to develop a set of criteria that will help us identify those with the most severe health conditions or disabilities, for whom ESA reassessments can be stopped unless there is a change of circumstances. Reviews of PIP are a key part of the benefit and ensure that not only awards remain correct where needs may change and that we also maintain contact with the claimant, both features missing from its predecessor Disability Living Allowance. PIP recognises that for the most severely disabled claimants, the award review process could seem unnecessarily intrusive. Existing PIP claimants with the most severe, lifetime disabilities, whose functional ability has remained the same, are more likely to have their evidence reviewed by a DWP Decision-Maker and will not need to have another face-to-face assessment with a healthcare professional.

Social Security Benefits: Chronic Illnesses

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with (a) cystic fibrosis, (b) rheumatoid arthritis, (c) motor neurone disease, (d) multiple sclerosis and (e) Parkinson's disease have qualified for (i) income-related employment and support allowance and (ii) income-related jobseeker's allowance since 2008; and if he will make a statement.

Penny Mordaunt: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Jobseeker's Allowance: Bridgend and Porthcawl

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many women over the age of 60 claim jobseeker's allowance at (a) Bridgend Jobcentre and (b) Porthcawl Jobcentre; and if he will make a statement.

Damian Hinds: There were 30 female Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants over the age of 60 in the county borough of Bridgend, which includes Porthcawl, as of July 2017. This information is published by NOMIS and available at https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp> and can be accessed by choosing the Jobseekers Allowance Age and Duration dataset and selecting “local authorities: county / unitary (as of April 2015) (Oct 2004 onwards)”, age, sex and date. Guidance for users can be found at https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp>.

Employment and Support Allowance: Parkinson's Disease

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with Parkinson's disease have had employment and support allowance cancelled after 12 months without undergoing a work capability assessment; and if he will make a statement.

Penny Mordaunt: Between October 2008 and September 2015 there were fewer than 50 individuals, whose main disabling condition was recorded as Parkinson’s disease, who stopped receiving Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) after twelve months and did not have a completed Work Capability Assessment. NotesAn individual may have made more than one ESA claim and had more than one assessment in the time period shown. These individuals will only be counted once.The primary medical condition recorded on the claim form does not itself confer entitlement to ESA. So, for example, a decision on entitlement for a customer claiming ESA on the basis of Parkinson’s disease would be based on their ability to carry out the range of activities assessed by the work capability assessment.

State Retirement Pensions: Females

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) staff are deployed to respond to complaints received from women born in the 1950s affected by the change to the state pension age and (b) additional staff have been employed to respond to those complaints in each of the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Guy Opperman: The responses to complaints received are being handled within normal business activities. No additional staff have been employed to respond to these complaints.

State Retirement Pensions: Females

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on what date his Department opened an investigation into complaints made by women born in the 1950s affected by the changes to the state pension age; and if he will make a statement.

Guy Opperman: The Department investigate each complaint received. The first formal complaint relating to women born in the 1950s affected by the changes to the state pension age was received on 16 August 2016.

Disability: Employment

Heidi Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress has been made towards introducing personalised and tailored employment support for disabled people who are looking for work.

Penny Mordaunt: From April 2017, as announced in the Green Paper, Improving Lives, we rolled out the new Personal Support Package (PSP) for people with health conditions. So far we have recruited 300 new Disability Employment Advisers, allocated £15 million to the Flexible Support Fund, made changes to the permitted work rules, and almost completed the roll out of the Health and Work Conversation. This is in line with our ambition to provide a support system which can be tailored to individuals’ needs. As part of the PSP, we have been rolling out a £330m package from April 2017, delivering a broad range of employment and health support for new ESA Work Related Activity Group and UC Limited Capability for Work claimants. For those claimants, the national employment support provision has been expanded and extended so that there are spaces available on Work Choice and Specialist Employability Support. This will also apply to the Work and Health Programme when it is rolled out from November 2017. We have introduced Community Partners to Jobcentres across Great Britain, peer support Journey to Employment job clubs and deployed trained Small Employer Advisors to deliver the Small Employer Offer.

Personal Independence Payment: Gower

Tonia Antoniazzi: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of constituents in Gower have had their personal independence payments overturned as a result of (a) mandatory reconsideration and (b) an appeal hearing in each year for which data is available.

Penny Mordaunt: The latest available data on personal independence payment (PIP) clearances split by type of clearance (i.e. whether the claim was awarded, disallowed or withdrawn) can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/.Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html Table 1 below shows the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Mandatory Reconsideration decisions where the award was changed by year since the introduction of PIP in the Parliamentary Constituency of Gower. Table 1 - Number of Mandatory Reconsiderations decisions where the award changed by financial year of decision.Year of Mandatory Reconsideration2013/142014/ 152015/ 162016/ 172017/18 (April 17 only)TotalGower#604015010270  Table 2 below shows the Number of appeals found in favour of appellant by financial year, data from Ministry of Justice. Table 2  YearNumber Found in Favour of AppellantPercentage Found in favour of Appellant (at hearing)2013/1400%2014/1510866%2015/1672571%2016/171,43377%   ‘# ‘used for instances where there are less than 5 cases to avoid the release of confidential data

Pensions: Fees and Charges

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to seek a solution to the problem of hidden costs and charges in pension schemes.

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans the Government has to prevent the practice of pension scheme providers using percentage figures to communicate fees and charges to consumers.

Guy Opperman: The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) currently intend to publish final rules later this month on how asset managers must disclose cost and charge information to Independent Governance Committees, and to trustees who have a duty to report on these matters. As previously announced, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) plan to bring forward regulations for consultation later this year on how costs and charges in relevant occupational schemes should be published and given to members. As part of that consultation, DWP will also look at the most appropriate way of communicating the long-term effect of costs and charges on members’ pension pots. The FCA plan to bring forward rules for members of workplace personal pension schemes and stakeholder pension schemes in due course.

State Retirement Pensions: Females

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential future costs of providing transitional financial support for WASPI women until they reach the state pension age.

Guy Opperman: DWP published the response to a Freedom of Information request in March 2016 that included transitional arrangements considered during the passage of the Pensions Act 2011 through Parliament, in addition to illustrative costings produced for hypothetical policies, as requested by the Minister for Pensions since June 2015 to give an indication of the fiscal impacts of such policies, and also a costing which was requested by the Work and Pensions Select Committee in February 2016. This FoI request can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-foi-releases-for-march-2016 Reversing the 2011 Act would cost, in total, over £30billion. Reversing the 1995 Act would be at least double this figure – certainly in excess of £75billion in the next few years alone. Introducing further transitional arrangements cannot be justified given the imperative to focus public resources on helping those most in need.

Work Capability Assessment: Contracts

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department has spent on contracts for delivering work capability assessments in the last year.

Penny Mordaunt: In 2016/17 the Department spent £177.5m on ESA and related Work Capability Assessments. This figure covers the direct cost of delivering work capability assessments, the medical assessments undertaken for other benefits, costs relating to written and verbal medical advice, fixed overheads, administrative costs, investment in new technology and other service improvements.

Social Security Benefits and Welfare Tax Credits: Appeals

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many mandatory reconsiderations have taken place for each type of benefit and tax credit; and how many of those reconsiderations overturned the original decision in each of the last 24 months.

Damian Hinds: The number of Mandatory Reconsiderations that took place for each of the DWP benefits and how many of those have been overturned is included in Appendix 1 For tax credits Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) introduced the mandatory reconsideration process on 6 April 2014 in order to align with DWP in advance of the migration of tax credits customers to Universal Credit. The change was brought in to enable more disputes to be resolved as early as possible in the decision making process.Mandatory reconsideration is a revision to the HMRC appeals process. The customer can request a mandatory reconsideration within 30 days of the date on the decision letter.A customer can request a mandatory reconsideration if they believe:the decision is wrong;the award does not take into account a change of circumstance;the award is reduced or has stopped;they do not agree with a penalty notice;they have been charged interest.HMRC do not routinely publish timescales for mandatory reconsiderations. There are no statutory time limits for carrying out a mandatory reconsideration.If the mandatory reconsideration is disallowed and the customer remains unhappy; they have one month from the date of the mandatory reconsideration decision to escalate their appeal directly to HM Court and Tribunal Service (HMCTS).The volume of Mandatory Reconsiderations received by month and the volume of those Mandatory Reconsiderations which resulted in the original decision being overturned for tax credits is shown in appendix 2



Appendix 1
(Excel SpreadSheet, 28.21 KB)




Appendix 2
(Word Document, 15.85 KB)

Social Security Benefits: Appeals

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to undertake an assessment of reasons for the increase in the number of employment and support allowance and personal independence payment appeals in the year ending March 2017.

Penny Mordaunt: The increase in appeals for these benefits was for the following reasons: ESA. There has been a significant change over 2016/17 in the makeup of Work Capability Assessments. As capacity with the provider has increased, this has enabled us to undertake assessments on a greater range of cases, including more reassessment cases and more cases which require a face-to-face assessment. This has changed the case mix and we are seeing more fit-for-work and work-related activity group decisions. Fit-for-work decisions are more likely to be appealed. But it should be noted that between April 2014-December 2016, 2.1m ESA WCA decisions have been made, of these just 8% have been appealed and only 4% have been overturned.  PIP. The increase is consequent on the upscaling of the roll-out of the DLA to PIP migration programme. Those who either were not awarded PIP or were given a reduced award were likely to dispute those decisions. In the majority of successful appeals, decisions are overturned because people have submitted more oral or written evidence.

Mobility: Terminology

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which conditions are included within the movement disorders disability category Stat-Xplore sub group; and if he will make a statement.

Penny Mordaunt: The information requested is shown in the list below. List 1: Breakdown of ‘movement disorders’ disability category for primary disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer system Detailed Medical Condition for ‘Movement disorders’BlepharospasmEssential tremor - benignHuntington's diseaseParkinson's diseaseParkinson's syndrome / ParkinsonismTorticollisTourette's syndromeWriter's crampMovement disorders - Other / type not known Data is based on primary disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer system. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the assessment is based but only the primary condition is shown in these statistics. All health conditions are coded on DWP systems using the high level “block” codes, consisting of a letter and two numbers in the range A00 to Z99, of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Edition, published by the World Health Organisation.http://apps.who.int/classifications/icd10/browse/2016/en. Please note that we are not able to break this data down to the four-character subcategories specified by the codes using decimal points.

Bereavement Support Payment

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many families with children aged below the school leaving age are in receipt of the bereavement support payment; and how many such families have children below the age of (a) 11 and (b) five.

Caroline Dinenage: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. However the Department does monitor requests we receive for new statistics and consider whether we can produce and release analysis that will helpfully inform public debate. The Department is therefore looking at this issue with a view to seeing what statistics could be produced on a regular basis.

Bereavement Support Payment

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many families are in receipt of the new bereavement support payment.

Caroline Dinenage: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. However the Department does monitor requests we receive for new statistics and consider whether we can produce and release analysis that will helpfully inform public debate. The Department is therefore looking at this issue with a view to seeing what statistics could be produced on a regular basis.

Bereavement Support Payment

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many families without children aged below the school leaving age are in receipt of the bereavement support payment.

Caroline Dinenage: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. However the Department does monitor requests we receive for new statistics and consider whether we can produce and release analysis that will helpfully inform public debate. The Department is therefore looking at this issue with a view to seeing what statistics could be produced on a regular basis.

Disability: Students

Heidi Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many full-time disabled students received disability living allowance or personal independence payment and were in the work-related activity group for income-related employment and support allowance in (a) 2015-16 and (b) 2016-17.

Penny Mordaunt: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Personal Independence Payment

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on what evidence the decision was taken by his Department to mandate the migration of 65 to 69 year-olds from disability living allowance to personal independence payment.

Penny Mordaunt: The upper age limit for Personal Independence Payment (PIP)is age 65 or State Pension age if higher. This is designed to ensure that support is targeted to those who have faced barriers during their working life which they take into older age. This is important as they may have been less able to financially prepare for their retirement. This upper age limit mirrors the current rules in Disability Living Allowance (DLA) which also has a universal upper age limit of 65.

Personal Independence Payment

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people aged 65 to 69 have been moved from disability living allowance to personal independence payment.

Penny Mordaunt: At 30 April 2017 the number of individuals aged 65-69 who previously received DLA and have been re-assessed as a PIP case was 88,920.

Personal Independence Payment

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential financial effect on people aged between 65 and 69 who, when mandated to migrate from disability living allowance to personal independence payment, may lose entitlement to mobility elements due to the different criteria of those benefits.

Penny Mordaunt: When PIP was first introduced, the Government worked with Motability to design an extensive Transitional Support package to support Motability customers who were not awarded the enhanced mobility component on reassessment from DLA to PIP. This gives significant help, including up to £2,000 lump or a lease extension for 6 months, the option to buy their old scheme vehicle, and can obtain help to adapt any new, non-scheme vehicle. More people between the age of 60-64 have had successful reassessment claims for PIP than any other age group. The following link shows the full reassessment results here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-independence-payment-april-2013-to-october-2016 Table 8c has the analysis by age: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/576641/pip-official-statistics-dla-to-pip-reassessment-outcomes-october-2016.ods

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the closure of Easterhouse Jobcentre on claimants who have difficulty using PCs and the internet.

Damian Hinds: Our work coaches personalise the support provided for each claimant based on individual need and circumstance. Where claimants have limitations due to a health condition or disability or because of caring responsibilities, then this is taken into account when arranging any attendance. We will continue to offer internet access to support claimants and we are working with local authorities as part of our ongoing partnership to improve digital access and capability.

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the closure of Parkhead Jobcentre on claimants who have difficulty using PCs and the internet.

Damian Hinds: Our work coaches personalise the support provided for each claimant based on individual need and circumstance. Where claimants have limitations due to a health condition or disability or because of caring responsibilities, then this is taken into account when arranging any attendance. We will continue to offer internet access to support claimants and we are working with local authorities as part of our ongoing partnership to improve digital access and capability.

Social Security Benefits: Complaints

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time for a complaint lodged with the Independent Case Examiner to be allocated to an investigation case manager was in the last 12 months.

Caroline Dinenage: In the 12 month period from 1 September 2016 to 31 August 2017, the average time taken to allocate a complaint to an investigation case manager was 45 weeks. Improvements in complaint handling within DWP mean that the ICE Office receive far fewer cases which can be resolved, to the complainant’s satisfaction, without a full investigation of the evidence. This means that the ICE process is reserved for more complex cases which are, by nature, more time consuming.

Pensioners: Glasgow East and Maidenhead

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) number and (b) average age was of state pension recipients in (i) Glasgow East and (ii) Maidenhead constituencies in the latest period for which figures are available.

Guy Opperman: As at the end of February 2017, there were 14,270 State Pension recipients in Glasgow East, with an average age of 74.1 years, and 19,920 recipients in Maidenhead, with an average age of 75.0 years. Source: DWP Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study, February 2017.Caseload figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.Averages are means.

Personal Independence Payment: Glasgow East

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many disability living allowance claimants who have been invited to and claimed personal independence payment in Glasgow East constituency have had their award (a) increased, (b) kept the same and (c) decreased; and what the average amount was by which awards (i) increased and (ii) decreased in each year for which figures are available.

Penny Mordaunt: Table 1, below, shows the number of individuals in Glasgow East constituency who underwent DLA to PIP reassessment and had their award (a) increased, (b) kept the same and (c) decreased in each calendar year for which figures are available. Table 1 – increased, equal and decreased awards following reassessment for PIP in Glasgow EastTable 1(a) Increased(b) Equal(c) DecreasedTotalJan to Dec 2014####Jan to Dec 201523040200460Jan to Oct 2016400140450980Total630170650  Table 2, below, shows the average (mean) amount by which awards to individuals in Glasgow East constituency who underwent DLA to PIP reassessment (i) increased and (ii) decreased in each calendar year for which figures are available. Table 2 – average (mean £) increase and decrease in awards following reassessment for PIP in Glasgow EastTable 2(i) Average (mean) increase(ii) Average (mean) decreaseJan to Dec 2014##Jan to Dec 2015£45.77-£47.48Jan to Oct 2016£46.28-£46.01 For both tables, October 2016 is the latest published data available. Later data is available on DWP systems but has been withheld as it will be published as part of official statistics in December 2017.  Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. ‘#’ indicates a total of less than 5. Columns may not sum due to rounding.

Personal Independence Payment: Glasgow East

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many disability living allowance claimants in Glasgow East constituency have been invited to but have not claimed personal independence payment in each year for which figures are available.

Penny Mordaunt: The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Job Centres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of using Ordnance Survey automated software to (a) calculate routes, estimated journey times and distances for each current customer of Parkhead Jobcentre to travel from their place of residence to Shettleston Jobcentre by public transport, (b) supply each customer with their information prior to the closure of Parkhead Jobcentre and (c) publish this data in an anonymised format.

Damian Hinds: Jobcentre distances and journey times were calculated using a variety of methods to ensure as accurate an assessment as possible, recognising the number of variables that might factor in claimants actual journeys. This included online tools and timetables, information collected on local public transport routes, and input and scrutiny from local DWP colleagues and management. We will publicise dates and inform customers when their jobcentres close in advance. We recognise that some claimants will be taking an unfamiliar journey: work coaches will support these people over the transition period until they become familiar with their new travel arrangements. Claimants can also make a request to attend a jobcentre that is closer to their home, or with more convenient travel links, if that better suits their needs. Our work coaches will help signpost claimants in such circumstances.

Personal Independence Payment: Glasgow East

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Glasgow East constituency have had their original decision on claiming personal independence payments overturned as a result of (a) mandatory reconsideration and (b) an appeal hearing in each year for which data is available.

Penny Mordaunt: The table below shows the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Mandatory Reconsideration decisions and appeal decisions where the award was changed by year of each decision since the introduction of PIP in the Parliamentary Constituencies of Glasgow East. Number of Mandatory Reconsiderations decisions and appeal decisions where the award changed, by financial year of decision. Year of Mandatory Reconsideration2013/142014/ 152015/ 162016/ 172017/18 (April 17 only)TotalNumber of Awards Changed at Mandatory Reconsideration#206014010230   Year of Appeal Decision2013/142014/ 152015/ 162016/ 172017/18 (April 17 only)TotalNumber of Awards Changed at Appeal#2014015010320

Job Centres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of using ordnance survey automated software to (a) calculate routes, estimated journey times and distances for each current customer of Easterhouse Jobcentre to travel from their place of residence to Shettleston Jobcentre by public transport, (b) supply each customer with their information prior to the closure of Easterhouse Jobcentre and (c) publish that data in an anonymised format.

Damian Hinds: Jobcentre distances and journey times were calculated using a variety of methods to ensure as accurate an assessment as possible, recognising the number of variables that might factor in claimants actual journeys. This included online tools and timetables, information collected on local public transport routes, and input and scrutiny from local DWP colleagues and management. We will publicise dates and inform customers when their jobcentres close in advance. We recognise that some claimants will be taking an unfamiliar journey: work coaches will support these people over the transition period until they become familiar with their new travel arrangements. Claimants can also make a request to attend a jobcentre that is closer to their home, or with more convenient travel links, if that better suits their needs. Our work coaches will help signpost claimants in such circumstances.

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what specific options were considered for the future of Parkhead Jobcentre prior to the decision to divest.

Damian Hinds: The increased use of our online services in recent years, coupled with reductions in unemployment and improved efficiency means that 20% of the rent currently paid by DWP is going toward space we are not using. In response, we have sought to redesign our estate in a way that delivers value for the taxpayer. The city of Glasgow has a higher number of jobcentres than comparable cities across the UK and our revised estate balances the need for an accessible network with best use of taxpayers money. The decision to close Parkhead was not taken in isolation but was as part of our service design for the Glasgow area as a whole. We would stress that this is not about reducing services, it is about taking the opportunity to stop spending money on empty space so we can spend more on supporting those in need. This has given us a unique opportunity to review which offices we will need in the future, taking account of the impact of Universal Credit and the anticipated demand on our services.

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what specific options were considered for the future of Easterhouse Jobcentre prior to the decision to divest.

Damian Hinds: The increased use of our online services in recent years, coupled with reductions in unemployment and improved efficiency means that 20% of the rent currently paid by DWP is going toward space we are not using. In response, we have sought to redesign our estate in a way that delivers value for the taxpayer. The city of Glasgow has a higher number of jobcentres than comparable cities across the UK and our revised estate balances the need for an accessible network with best use of taxpayers money. The decision to close Easterhouse was not taken in isolation but was as part of our service design for the Glasgow area as a whole. We would stress that this is not about reducing services, it is about taking the opportunity to stop spending money on empty space so we can spend more on supporting those in need. This has given us a unique opportunity to review which offices we will need in the future, taking account of the impact of Universal Credit and the anticipated demand on our services.

Jobseeker's Allowance: Administration

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria are used to determine to which Jobcentre Plus office each new claim is assigned.

Damian Hinds: Customers are usually assigned to their nearest Jobcentre according to their postcode when making a claim. However, claimants can elect to change the Jobcentre they attend.Where we are proposing changes to our estate we have provided details of the future locations of our sites so that our claimants can understand the impact on their travel arrangements

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions he has had with third sector organisations on the closure of Parkhead Jobcentre.

Damian Hinds: The department is working in partnership with organisations to offer support to claimants and will continue to do so. DWP recognises the need to ensure support for claimants is coordinated and that there are many partner organisations within the Parkhead area who offer valuable services for claimants. Our Partnership Managers are in regular contact with third sector organisations and information on services is made available to Work Coaches to enable signposting of claimants. For example, through the Universal Credit Delivery Partnership Agreement, DWP funds Glasgow City Council to provide initial and ongoing online support to claimants in three library hub locations (Gorbals, Anniesland and Shettleston).

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the savings to the public purse which will accrue from the proposed closure of Parkhead Jobcentre.

Damian Hinds: We are not yet in a position to share an estimated figure due to commercial confidentiality pending completion of legal processes. We expect to make savings by merging offices through reduced running costs and making best use of both office space available and taxpayer’s money.

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the savings to the public purse which will accrue from the proposed closure of Easterhouse Jobcentre.

Damian Hinds: We are not yet in a position to share an estimated figure due to commercial confidentiality pending completion of legal processes. We expect to make savings by merging offices through reduced running costs and making best use of both office space available and taxpayer’s money.

Social Security Benefits: Complaints

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints have been accepted for investigation by the Independent Case Examiner's Office but have yet to be allocated to an investigation case manager in the last 12 months.

Caroline Dinenage: As at 31 August 2017 there were 1,854 cases awaiting allocation to an investigation case manager.

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 29 June 2017 to Question 111, if (a) he and (b) a Minister of his Department will visit Easterhouse Jobcentre Plus in 2017.

Damian Hinds: Ministers visit Jobcentres and other DWP locations across the UK regularly through the year. It is not however generally possible to specify in advance which locations this will include.

Access to Work Programme: Glasgow East

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Glasgow East constituency received support through the Access to Work scheme in each of the last five years.

Penny Mordaunt: The information is not readily available and has not previously been published as official statistics. We will consider whether it is feasible to produce the statistics requested within the disproportionate cost limit, and if so, will issue them in an official statistics release in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 29 June 2017 to Question 115, if (a) he and (b) a Minister of his Department will visit Shettleston Jobcentre Plus in 2017.

Damian Hinds: Ministers visit Jobcentres and other DWP locations across the UK regularly through the year. It is not however generally possible to specify in advance which locations this will include.

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 29 June 2017 to Question 112, if (a) he and (b) a Minister of his Department will visit Parkhead Jobcentre Plus in 2017.

Damian Hinds: Ministers visit Jobcentres and other DWP locations across the UK regularly through the year. It is not however generally possible to specify in advance which locations this will include.

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) distance and (b) time it will take to travel by public transport from Parkhead Jobcentre to Shettleston Jobcentre.

Damian Hinds: The department will support customers through the change of their Jobcentre’s location and as part of that support we will advise them on alternative Jobcentre locations, taking into account travel. Local consultation for offices over three miles and 20 minutes away by public transport, will help inform decisions about additional provision. Parkhead Jobcentre to Shettleston Jobcentre is 1.1 miles away. Journey times are from 11 minutes upwards, depending upon the mode of public transport used.

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) distance and (b) time it will take to travel by public transport from Easterhouse Jobcentre to Shettleston Jobcentre.

Damian Hinds: The department will support customers through the change of their Jobcentre’s location and as part of that support we will advise them on alternative Jobcentre locations, taking into account travel. Local consultation for offices over three miles and 20 minutes away by public transport, will help inform decisions about additional provision. Easterhouse Jobcentre to Shettleston Jobcentre is 2.9 miles away. Journey times are from 19 minutes upwards, depending upon the mode of public transport used.

Jobseeker's Allowance: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government has taken to extend the availability of public access terminals in areas served by Parkhead Jobcentre after it closes.

Damian Hinds: Our work coaches personalise the support provided for each claimant based on individual need and circumstance. We will continue to offer internet access from Shettleston Jobcentre to support claimants and we are working with local authorities as part of our on-going partnership to improve digital access and capability. If claimants are experiencing any difficulties with the service, they should discuss their issues with their Work Coach who will be happy to help overcome any issues affecting their claim or work search.

Jobseeker's Allowance: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government has taken to extend the availability of public access terminals in areas served by Easterhouse Jobcentre after it closes.

Damian Hinds: Our work coaches personalise the support provided for each claimant based on individual need and circumstance. We will continue to offer internet access from Shettleston Jobcentre to support claimants and we are working with local authorities as part of our on-going partnership to improve digital access and capability. If claimants are experiencing any difficulties with the service, they should discuss their issues with their Work Coach who will be happy to help overcome any issues affecting their claim or work search.

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times the public WiFi at Easterhouse Jobcentre has been accessed by a different device in the latest period for which data is available.

Caroline Dinenage: The information relating specifically to how many times the public WiFi at Easterhouse Jobcentre has been accessed by different devices is not held by DWP or the supplier. However, the latest data for July 2017 shows 600 unique Wi-Fi connections in Easterhouse Jobcentre. The Wi-Fi connection at Easterhouse Jobcentre is public and as a result the members of the public are able to access the Wi-Fi from inside the office or immediately outside so the number of connections would not relate to only Jobcentre customers using the service.

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants are served by Shettleston Jobcentre; and how many of those claimants are disabled.

Damian Hinds: The most detailed and up-to-date UK labour market statistics are available from official sources from: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/. These figures are rounded to the nearest five. Our Work Coaches personalise the support they provide for each claimant based on individual need and circumstance, including the offer of home visits and postal signing where appropriate. The needs of vulnerable claimants, such as those limited by a health condition or disability or because of caring responsibilities, are taken into account when arranging any attendance.

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on the local economy of the plan to relocate jobs from Easterhouse Jobcentre.

Damian Hinds: Easterhouse Jobcentre is a leased building which the landlord can offer to new tenants once DWP has vacated the building.

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on the local economy of the plan to relocate jobs from Parkhead Jobcentre.

Damian Hinds: Parkhead Jobcentre is a leased building which the landlord can offer to new tenants once DWP has vacated the building.

Disability: Glasgow East

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of the proportion of disabled people in Glasgow East constituency who were subject to an adverse sanction decision in 2016.

Damian Hinds: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. Statistics are available on the number of self-identified disabled people who have received an adverse sanction decision whilst in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Income Support or Jobseeker’s Allowance and these are published on Stat-Xplore here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. Guidance on how to extract the relevant information can be found at:https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who use Parkhead Jobcentre have been informed in writing of the closure of that jobcentre.

Damian Hinds: There is a phased closure programme in place for all offices affected by the People and Locations Programme. The closure date for Parkhead Jobcentre is 16 February 2018. Posters will be on display in Parkhead Jobcentre at least 2 months before the closure date. All customers who attend the Jobcentre will receive a letter about the change within one month of the closure date. Work Coaches and Service delivery colleagues will also verbally advise customers about the closure as part of routine interviews and at all other attendance. In addition, DWP have already notified partners and stakeholders in writing to confirm changes to estate across the city, including Parkhead. To enhance wider communications, posters will be on display in as many venues and partner organisations in local communities as possible and DWP will work with local press, radio and other media sources aiming to cascade information about office changes as widely as possible. All activities referred to will be in addition to the work we will carry out internally to notify customers about changes in advance of closure dates.

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of the relocation of staff and resources from Parkhead Jobcentre.

Damian Hinds: We are not yet in a position to share an estimated figure due to commercial confidentiality pending completion of legal processes. We expect to make savings by merging offices through reduced running costs and making best use of both office space available and taxpayer’s money.

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants are served by Parkhead Jobcentre; and how many of those claimants are disabled.

Damian Hinds: The most detailed and up-to-date UK labour market statistics are available from official sources from: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/. These figures are rounded to the nearest five. Our Work Coaches personalise the support they provide for each claimant based on individual need and circumstance, including the offer of home visits and postal signing where appropriate. The needs of vulnerable claimants, such as those limited by a health condition or disability or because of caring responsibilities, are taken into account when arranging any attendance.

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants are served by Easterhouse Jobcentre; and how many of those claimants are disabled.

Damian Hinds: The most detailed and up-to-date UK labour market statistics are available from official sources from: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/. These figures are rounded to the nearest five. Our Work Coaches personalise the support they provide for each claimant based on individual need and circumstance, including the offer of home visits and postal signing where appropriate. The needs of vulnerable claimants, such as those limited by a health condition or disability or because of caring responsibilities, are taken into account when arranging any attendance.

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to publish an equality impact assessment on the closure of Easterhouse Jobcentre.

Damian Hinds: Equality analyses are not routinely separately published. However, throughout the redesign of our estate the department has been mindful of its duties under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 and the impact of its plans on its colleagues and customers

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to publish an equality impact assessment on the closure of Parkhead Jobcentre.

Damian Hinds: Equality analyses are not routinely separately published. However, throughout the redesign of our estate the department has been mindful of its duties under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 and the impact of its plans on its colleagues and customers.

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of relocating staff and resources from Easterhouse Jobcentre.

Damian Hinds: We are not yet in a position to share an estimated figure due to commercial confidentiality pending completion of legal processes. We expect to make savings by merging offices through reduced running costs and making best use of both office space available and taxpayer’s money.

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who use Easterhouse Jobcentre have been informed in writing of the closure of that jobcentre.

Damian Hinds: There is a phased closure programme in place for all offices affected by the People and Locations Programme. The closure date for Easterhouse Jobcentre is 9 February 2018. All customers who attend the Jobcentre will receive a letter about the change within one month of the closure date. Work Coaches and Service delivery colleagues will also verbally advise customers about the closure as part of routine interviews and at all other attendance. In addition, DWP have already notified partners and stakeholders in writing to confirm changes to estate across the city, including Easterhouse. To enhance wider communications, posters will be on display in as many venues and partner organisations in local communities as possible and DWP will work with local press, radio and other media sources aiming to cascade information about office changes as widely as possible. All activities referred to will be in addition to the work we will carry out internally to notify customers about changes in advance of closure dates.

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions he has had with third-sector organisations on the closure of Easterhouse Jobcentre.

Damian Hinds: We are committed to retaining an accessible jobcentre network and continuing to serve customers in all areas of the country, including Glasgow. As part of that commitment we are working with partner organisations throughout Glasgow, collaborating with them to ensure individuals have access to the widest range of support during periods of unemployment. This is in addition to the core services available via the local jobcentre. We are already working closely with Glasgow City Council and a significant amount of work to increase support for homeless customers has been on going over the past year with City Mission and Simon Community. We are also working with Glasgow Community Planning and Skills Development Scotland to explore outreach opportunities and closer working. There are also plans in place to host local stakeholder/partnership meetings where third sector and other employability and support organisations will be invited to attend. This will give another opportunity to explore additional opportunities. In addition, all jobcentres in the East End of Glasgow currently engage with Citizens Advice, Connect, Legacy Hub and Greater Easterhouse Supporting Hands.

Housing Benefit: Glasgow East

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with disabilities in Glasgow East constituency had a deduction made from their benefits due to removal of the spare room subsidy in the latest period for which figures are available.

Caroline Dinenage: As of April 2017, there were 2,460 households in Glasgow East constituency who had a deduction made from their Housing Benefit due to the removal of the spare room subsidy. Of these, there were 1,850 where the claimant or partner was receiving Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).

Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in which parliamentary constituency the largest total weekly amount was deducted from benefit claimants owing to removal of the spare room subsidy in the latest period for which figures are available.

Caroline Dinenage: In May 2017, the parliamentary constituency with the largest total weekly amount deducted from benefit claimants owing to the removal of the spare room subsidy was West Dunbartonshire. The total weekly amount deducted in this constituency was 35.7 thousand pounds.

Social Security Benefits: Arrears

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of women aged (a) 60, (b) 61, (c) 62, (d) 63 and (e) 64 had third party deductions in their (i) employment and support allowance, (ii) income support, (iii) jobseeker's allowance, (iv) pension credit or (v) universal credit as a result of arrears in each year since 2009-10.

Damian Hinds: The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Electrical Safety: Testing

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what changes to portable appliance testing were implemented as a result of the relevant recommendations on pages 9 and 57 of the Lofstedt report on Reclaiming Health and Safety for All, Cm 8219, 28 November 2011.

Penny Mordaunt: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revised its guidance (INDG236 Maintaining portable electric equipment in low-risk environments) to emphasise that suggested intervals for portable appliance testing were only suggestions and not intended to be prescriptive. In addition, HSE clarified advice on its webpages stressing that simple and proportionate actions are required to comply with the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, this advice can be found at:http://www.hse.gov.uk/electricity/faq-portable-appliance-testing.htm.

Department for Work and Pensions: Redundancy Pay

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2017 to Question 3369, how much of the £144,000 paid in exit packages to Department for Work and Pensions staff was paid to (a) men and (b) women.

Caroline Dinenage: Since 1 November 2016 the Department has released two employees, from current headcount circa 84,000 employees, under voluntary exit. The total compensation cost was £144,000. Both of these employees were men.

Department for Work and Pensions: Arms Length External Organisations

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of new arms-length bodies his Department plans to establish once the UK has left the EU.

Guy Opperman: At present, my Department has no plans to create any new arm’s-length bodies once the UK has left the EU.

Department for Work and Pensions: Assets

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in which of the last 10 years his Department has submitted a strategic asset management plan to the Government Property Unit.

Caroline Dinenage: The Government Property Unit first commissioned a Strategic Asset Management Plan for the Department in September 2014. The Department has submitted one in each of the years since.

Department for Work and Pensions: Cybercrime

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the principle set out in paragraph 5.3.6 of the Government's Cyber Security Strategy that everyone who works in government has a sound awareness of cyber risk applies to members of staff employed by contractors doing work procured by his Department.

Caroline Dinenage: Yes, DWP gains assurance that a contractor is complying with obligations to deliver services in compliance with DWP’s security standards and policies through its industry standard contract management processes.

Department for Work and Pensions: Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of requests for consultancy and temporary staff for his Department were approved via a resource board.

Caroline Dinenage: All requests for consultancy and temporary staff were approved via a resource board.

Department for Work and Pensions: Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether requests for consultancy and temporary staff for the his Department must be accompanied by a formal business case.

Caroline Dinenage: All requests for consultancy and temporary staff are accompanied by a formal business case.

Department for Work and Pensions: Consultants

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of consultancy assignments procured by his Department are paid at a daily rate.

Caroline Dinenage: Individual consultancy assignments can be paid in a number of different ways e.g. by project, weekly timesheets, by outputs, but essentially they are all based on daily rates.

Universal Credit: Pilot Schemes

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress has been made on rolling out the Universal Credit Trusted Partner scheme; and whether he plans to publish an evaluation of the pilot for that scheme.

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his Department has made on developing the universal credit landlord portal; and what the roll-out schedule is for releasing that portal.

Damian Hinds: Following successful pilots of the ‘Trusted Partner’ scheme and the ‘Landlord Portal Service’, DWP will rollout both initiatives together. The Trusted Partner scheme allows social landlords to play a key role in engaging with their tenants who are Universal Credit claimants, helping those who can’t manage their housing payments to access the support available. The Landlord Portal provides social landlords with the ability to submit information directly to the Universal Credit online system, which supports timely and accurate payment of housing costs to Universal Credit claimants. The next stage of rollout for both initiatives means that all Trusted Partner landlords will have access to the Landlord Portal. We have already introduced this to the landlords involved in our Trusted Partner pilot. In the coming months, we will invite more social landlords in Universal Credit Full Service areas to enroll in the Landlord Portal, becoming Trusted Partners. The independent evaluation report of Trusted Partner will be published shortly.

Industrial Health and Safety: Construction

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to improve health and safety standards and risk assessment processes on contractors working in the construction industry when drawing up construction plans.

Penny Mordaunt: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) sets out its intervention priorities for the construction industry in its Construction Sector Plan that will be published later this year. A draft version of the Plan is available on HSE’s website at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/strategiesandplans/sector-plans/construction.pdf This includes HSE inspectors undertaking a programme of targeted, risk based interventions of construction projects, including annual inspection campaigns aimed at the refurbishment sector and smaller projects. HSE also works with industry through the Construction Industry Advisory Committee (CONIAC) to deliver the aims of the strategy for Great Britain’s occupational health and safety system launched in 2016: Helping Great Britain work well, which can be found at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/strategy/index.htm

Benefits Rules: Disability

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how his Department monitors claimant commitment obligations placed on disabled people to ensure that they are reasonable obligations.

Penny Mordaunt: Local managers are responsible for monitoring claimant commitment obligations placed on all claimants including disabled people to ensure that they are appropriate and reasonable. They do this using quality assurance standards, observation of work coach interviews and through feedback and coaching. This supplements work coach learning, development and accreditation that is focussed on a tailored customer service that ensures commitments are reasonable given individual circumstances and that customers get the personalised support they need. Claimant commitments are reviewed at every intervention, ensuring that they are still reasonable and take into account possible changes in claimant circumstances.

Employment: Minority Groups

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to provide incentives for employers to employ people from hard-to-reach groups.

Damian Hinds: The Department already encourages employers to support hard-to-reach groups through communications campaigns such as See Potential. This campaign was launched in September 2015 with the aim of inspiring employers to change their recruitment practices and be more open to hiring people from the most disadvantaged groups in our society. Similarly, Disability Confident is about creating a movement for change – getting employers to think differently about disability and to take action to improve how they attract, recruit and retain disabled workers.

Employment: Disability

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department plans to respond to its consultation on the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper; and if he will make a statement.

Penny Mordaunt: Improving Lives; the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper was published on 31 October 2016 and the consultation closed on 17 February 2017. The Green Paper explored a range of ways to improve the prospects and transform the lives of disabled people by removing barriers that prevent them from working, and helping ensure that they are able to remain in employment. We received over 6000 of responses and engaged in a wide range of conversations with stakeholders during the consultation period, supported by over 166 accessible events held across England, Scotland, and Wales. We are now carefully considering the consultation responses and next steps for longer-term reform and will set these out in due course

Disability: Employment

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the proportion of people with a disability who are (a) employed, (b) inactive in the labour market and (c) unemployed; and what proportion of those people employed in (i) large businesses, (ii) medium-sized businesses and (iii) small businesses have a disability.

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the proportion of people who are self-employed who have a disability.

Penny Mordaunt: Employment status Data on the proportion of working age disabled people who were employed, inactive and unemployed is published by the Office for National Statistics using the Labour Force Survey. The latest data for Q2 2017 can be found using the following link: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/labourmarketstatusofdisabledpeoplea08 In the United Kingdom, over the last four years the employment rate of disabled people has increased by nearly 6 percentage points from 43.6% in Q2 2013 to 49.2% in Q2 2017. There are now almost 600,000 more disabled people in work than four years ago, with almost 3.5 million disabled people in employment. Business Size As part of the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper we have published information based on the size of people’s workplaces for Q2 2016 using the Labour Force Survey. This data can be found in Table 1h using the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/641240/work-health-and-disability-green-paper-data-pack-supporting-tables.xlsx Self-employment The latest published figures from the Labour Force Survey, covering Q4 2016, show that the proportion of people in Great Britain who are self-employed who have a disability is 13%.Source: Labour Force Survey, available at:https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/adhocs/006673economicactivityofpeoplewithdisabilitiesbyemploymenttypeaged16to64apriltojune2013onwardsgreatbritain NotePlease note that the latest data from the Labour Force Survey covers Q2 (April to June) 2017. However, we have used the latest publicly available data for each request which is why different time periods are used.

Unemployment: Disability and Mental Illness

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on businesses of inactivity in the labour market among people who have a (a) disability and (b) chronic mental health condition.

Penny Mordaunt: In October 2016, my department in conjunction with the Department of Health, published, Improving Lives: the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper which included a range of data of the impact of inactivity on the labour market, including our estimate that ill health among working age people which prevents them from working, costs the economy around £100 billion a year and related sickness absence costs employers £9 billion a year. This Government is committed to building a country that works for everyone. The package of initiatives announced in Improving Lives aims to improve the employment prospects of those with disabilities and health conditions; helping them to realise their potential and enabling employers’ to benefit from a large, valuable and under-used section of the labour market.

Personal Independence Payment: Medical Examinations

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many personal independence payment assessment decisions were (a) overturned as a result of an appeal tribunal and (b) maintained in (i) 2016-17 and (ii) 2017-18 to date.

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many personal independence payment assessment appeals were taken to the tribunal stage in (a) 2016-17 and (b) 2017-18 to date.

Penny Mordaunt: The latest available data on volumes of appeals, volumes overturned and volumes upheld can be found in quarterly published statistics from the Ministry of Justice in tables SSCS.1 and SSCS.3 of: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics#history

Personal Independence Payment: Salford and Eccles

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Salford and Eccles constituency had personal independence payment awards reduced or removed in (a) 2016-17 and (b) 2017-18 to date as a result of reassessment.

Penny Mordaunt: The table below shows the number of individuals in Salford and Eccles constituency who were previously in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and who underwent a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Reassessment between 6th April 2016 and 31st October 2016 resulting in either a reduced reward or removal of award.  Re-assessment Outcome2016/17 Apr 6th to Oct 31st 2016Award Decreased190Disallowed post referral to the AP160Disallowed pre referral to the AP20Withdrawn#Total380 October 2016 is the latest published data available. Later data is available on DWP systems but has been withheld as it will be published as part of official statistics in December 2017. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. ‘#’ indicates a total of less than 5. Columns may not sum due to rounding.

National Insurance Contributions: Voluntary Work

Michael Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the forthcoming National Insurance Contributions Bill, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of granting Class 3 national insurance credits to young people engaged in full-time social action programmes.

Michael Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the forthcoming National Insurance Contributions Bill, if =he-she- will consult the Youth Full-Time Social Action Review on the potential merits of granting Class 3 national insurance credits to full-time volunteers.

Michael Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to introduce provisions relating to Class 3 national insurance credits in the National Insurance Contributions Bill.

Guy Opperman: The Government has no current plans to introduce a Class 3 National Insurance credit for volunteers. However on 6 September, a Call For Evidence was published on the Full-Time Social Action Review which will develop recommendations on how to support full time volunteering. Details of how to submit evidence are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/643612/Full_Time_Social_Action_Review_-_Call_for_Evidence.pdf The review will consider what the voluntary sector, industry and, if needed, government can do to support full-time volunteering.

Access to Work Programme: Disability Aids

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether hoists are refundable under the Access to Work scheme.

Penny Mordaunt: The support that Access to Work provides is considered on a case-by-case basis, dependent on individual work-related needs caused by disability or health conditions. Support can include specialist equipment, which may potentially include a ‘hoist’ if such an item is deemed to be necessary for the individual’s needs and appropriate within the terms of Access to Work guidance.

Access to Work Programme: Disability Aids

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, why Access to Work claim forms require certification by an employer or support worker.

Penny Mordaunt: The Department for Work and Pensions has an obligation to handle public resources to high standards of probity, including standards of accountability and transparency, and this duty requires that there are clear audit trails for transactions involving public funds. In order to meet the necessary standards, we have to ensure that the evidence supporting decisions regarding Access to Work awards is current and relevant. Access to Work can provide support of up to a maximum of £42,100 per year beyond that which is required from employers as reasonable adjustments. The process of deciding and recording an award requires a number of pieces of evidence, including evidence of what reasonable adjustment has been put in place by an employer.

Access to Work Programme: Disability Aids

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how self-employed people can meet the Access to Work certification requirement by an employer or support worker.

Penny Mordaunt: The criteria for meeting the Access to Work certification requirement for self-employment are laid out in the Access to Work DWP Staff Guide, which is publicly available on GOV.UK through the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/access-to-work-staff-guideIn the current guidance, for Access to Work purposes, a self-employed person is classed as someone who is:operating a business either on their own account or in partnership; or working for an employer on a self-employed contractual basis’operating a franchised business on a self-employed basisrunning a business that satisfies the past or prospective viability tests (such as achieving a minimum level of turnover each year - this level is currently set at the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) of £5,824 per annum), andpossessing a Unique Tax Reference Number (UTR)Self-employed people can meet the Access to Work certification requirement by providing a UTR; and either of the following:accounts for an established businesses; or,a business plan of a standard acceptable to a bank or other financial institution.

Access to Work Programme: Disability Aids

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons Access to Work claim handlers make separate payments to customers who have multiple such allowances rather than making a single payment.

Penny Mordaunt: We have interpreted this question to relate to the current process for making payments to customers. At present, once an award has been agreed, individual costs are reimbursed retrospectively rather than a single lump sum payment being issued in advance. We recently conducted a voluntary trial of a cash ‘Personal Budget’ model for Access to Work awards, which tested the response of Access to Work users to more direct control of their awards. We are using evidence from this trial to develop a further trial of personal budgets which we intend to launch shortly.

Access to Work Programme: Hearing Impairment

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what interim support is available for deaf people between the start of a new job and when an Access to Work workplace assessment is carried out.

Penny Mordaunt: Access to Work (AtW) aims to supply help as quickly as possible, but where there are unavoidable delays, interim solutions may be considered. These will vary according to individual customers’ needs and situations. In such cases, AtW Advisers will inform customers and employers of likely delays and discuss interim support options.We are continuously engaging with stakeholders to explore how the customer journey can be improved. For example, in June 2017 the new contract for AtW workplace assessments came into effect, changing the workplace assessments target. The new contract requires 90% of assessments to be carried out in 8 days, rather than the 10 days that was previously the case. This is intended to expedite the provision of support to AtW customers.We will publish our response to “Improving Lives: The Work, Health, and Disability Green Paper“ this autumn, in which we will explore options for improving the service offered through AtW.

Personal Independence Payment: Hearing Impairment

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many personal independence payment appeals have been made to the Social Security Tribunals by deaf claimants; and how many of those appeals have been successful.

Penny Mordaunt: The following table gives volumes of appeals lodged and overturned by year for claimants with a hearing disorder. Appeals lodged are given by the year the appeal was registered. Appeals cleared are appeals where a decision has been made and are given by the year the appeal was cleared. Appeals overturned are appeals where the DWP decision has been changed and are given by the year the appeal was cleared. Appeals LodgedAppeals ClearedAppeals Overturned2013/14###2014/15300100#2015/167006003002016/171,1009005002017/18 (data until April'17)#100100*Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.**‘#‘used for instances where there are less than 50 cases.

Personal Independence Payment: Hearing Impairment

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what training health professionals carrying out personal independence payment assessments receive on deafness.

Penny Mordaunt: Both Assessment Providers are required to ensure that the Health Professionals (HPs) carrying out assessments have knowledge of the clinical aspects and likely functional effects of a wide range of health conditions and impairments including deafness.All HPs receive comprehensive training in disability analysis. This includes specific case studies and guidance which covers how a person who is deaf, or has a hearing impairment, is likely to be affected in their day-to-day activities. All HPs are required to complete this training before they can be approved to carry out assessments on our behalf. The Department and our Providers work with a wide range of organisations, including those who represent people who are deaf or have a hearing impairment in order to continuously improve the service provided, including strengthening deaf awareness training material for HPs.

Personal Independence Payment: Hearing Impairment

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department plans to introduce a digital application process that is accessible for deaf people claiming personal independence payment.

Penny Mordaunt: The Government is committed to modernising and digitalising public services, and in the longer term, plans to develop a joined up digital journey for claimants with health and disability needs. However due to the fiscal constraints the Department cannot commit to a timescale for achieving our aspiration to further modernise technology in this area at this time. Currently deaf claimants are able to write in to ask for a paper claim form and the Department also offers “next generation text” and a video relay service. We are considering options as to how we are able to provide a digital process in line with the recommendations of the second independent review of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments.

Working Conditions: Temperature

Sir David Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many prosecutions the Health and Safety Executive has brought against employers for a failure to manage high temperatures in the workplace in each year since 2009.

Penny Mordaunt: The Health and Safety Executive have prosecuted one company since 2009 for failures to manage work in high temperatures. In 2009/10 a company was prosecuted following a work-related fatality where a worker suffered from heat exhaustion in a silo and subsequent heart failure. The company was found guilty and ordered to pay fines totalling £30,000.

Musculoskeletal Disorders: Employment

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people with musculoskeletal conditions have timely access to services to support them in work.

Penny Mordaunt: The Government is committed to supporting those with musculoskeletal conditions to enter and to stay in work. As set out in “Improving Lives: the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper”, our approach is to join up systems across the welfare state, the health service and in wider society so that we can ensure those with health conditions can access the right integrated treatment and support at the right time. The Work and Health Innovation Fund, jointly managed by the DWP and Department of Health joint Work and Health Unit and NHS England is designed to support innovative local initiatives to drive integration across the health, care and employment systems. We are using the Innovation Fund to develop trials, proofs of concepts, research and external challenges. We aim to use this funding to build clear evidence of what works in helping people into the right type of work when they are managing a long term health condition or disability. NHS England is promoting a number of high impact initiatives including a new care model for musculoskeletal first contact practitioners via the NHS England Elective Care Programme to ensure people with musculoskeletal conditions have timely access to the right treatment and care. NHS England also has a mandate commitment to improve NHS services to help people with musculoskeletal conditions enter and stay in work. This is done by identifying opportunities for regular collection of data about incidence, prevalence, clinical activity and outcomes of musculoskeletal patients and services in England. We are also commissioning a systematic overview of current musculoskeletal service provision in the community and secondary care, identifying areas of best practice to further advance service redesign.

Social Security Benefits: Cancer

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to assist young cancer patients to access welfare benefits.

Penny Mordaunt: People over the age of 16 who are unable to work due to an illness or disability can claim Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) which has both a contributory strand accessible via a National Insurance contribution test and an income-related strand accessible via an income test. For cancer sufferers, a light touch evidence gathering process exists, to help determine eligibility. There is also a presumption that claimant’s receiving or recovering from cancer treatment will be placed in the Support Group which could entitle them to up to £109.65 per week, subject to suitable evidence from a healthcare professional such as a GP or oncologist.  Children and teenagers with serious or critical illnesses such as cancer are able to apply for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) (or Personal Independence Payment if aged 16 and above). DLA and PIP are tax free allowances, which are designed to contribute to the extra costs incurred as a result of long-term health conditions and/or disabilities. Children in receipt of DLA can receive up to £141.10 a week, and claimants who are terminally ill have their claim fast tracked to allow immediate access to the care component of the benefit.

State Retirement Pensions: Females

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with the Prime Minister on implementing pension transitional protection arrangements for women born in the 1950s.

Guy Opperman: My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has regular discussions with the Prime Minister and other Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues. The government’s position on this issue has been made clear in Parliament many times since 2015 when transitional arrangements were introduced as part of the 2011 Pensions Act. The Government will make no further changes to the policy in this area.

Motor Neurone Disease: Disability Aids

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that people with motor neurone disease receive (a) home adaptations, (b) specialised wheelchairs and (c) adapted vehicles.

Penny Mordaunt: The Government is committed to helping people with disabilities to live safely and independently in their homes. Since 2010, we have invested over a billion pounds into the Disabled Facilities Grant. This enables eligible disabled people, including those with motor neurone disease, to receive a grant of up to £30,000 to make adaptations to better access their home and garden, or to make it easier to move around their home. Local housing authorities are under a statutory duty (through the Housing Renewal Grant Regulations 1996) to provide a Disabled Facilities Grant to those people who qualify. In 2017-18, funding for the grant increased to £431million. In 2018-19, it will rise to £468 million. In England, local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are responsible for commissioning wheelchair services for their local populations and funding for these services is determined locally. NHS England is taking work forward to support CCGs in improving services to ensure that these are more responsive and personalised. The Department of Work and Pensions is responsible for the disability benefits that provide a passport to the Motability scheme, which enables disabled people to lease cars, powered wheelchairs and scooters by using some or all of their Disability Living Allowance higher-rate mobility component, Personal Independence Payment enhanced-rate mobility component, Armed Forces Independence Payment or War Pensioners’ Mobility Supplement. Motability also provides grants for those who need a specially adapted vehicle.We are working with Department of Health to explore the potential ways we could help people to combine funding streams to make it easier for them to access home adaptations, specialised wheelchairs and adapted vehicles.

Access to Work Programme

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to promote the Access to Work scheme to people with musculoskeletal conditions.

Penny Mordaunt: DWP is working with Arthritis Research UK (ARUK) and Arthritis Care, and has provided them with Access to Work (AtW) content for them to email their clients with information about AtW and how to apply. ARUK is also helping us to reach healthcare organisations it works with in Scotland, to allow DWP to share AtW marketing products with them as well. This initiative is on a trial basis to evaluate the most effective communications approach.

Social Security Benefits: Cancer

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department is planning a review of benefits available to cancer patients to ensure that benefits are sufficient to meet any additional financial support required.

Penny Mordaunt: People with long-term health conditions can already claim Personal Independence Payment (PIP) to contribute towards the extra costs of their disability. PIP is non means tested and is payable regardless of the individuals employment status. There are also special fast track rules for people who are terminally ill (as defined). We continuously look to identify further opportunities to improve the entire PIP claim and decision-making process. People who are unable to work due to an illness or disability can claim Employment and Support Allowance. For cancer sufferers, a light touch evidence gathering process exists, to help determine eligibility. There is a presumption that claimants receiving or recovering from cancer treatment will be placed in the Support Group which could entitle them to up to £109.65 per week, subject to suitable evidence from a healthcare professional such as a GP or oncologist. We have consulted on a range of proposals in the Green Paper, Improving Lives, and we are carefully considering how to take these forward in consultation with a range of stakeholders. Trudi Hills, our Sector champion for banking, has been working with Macmillan to improve how the banking industry supports people when they receive a cancer diagnosis.

Disability Living Allowance: Children

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will review the mobility component of disability living allowance to ensure that children under the age of three are eligible.

Penny Mordaunt: Families with children under the age of three are able to claim the care component of Disability Living Allowance where the child’s care needs are substantially in excess of the needs of a child of the same age without a disability or long term health condition. From 9 April 2001, the age condition for entitlement to the higher rate mobility component was lowered from 5 years to 3 years. In deciding to set the lower age limit, the department considered views of medical advisors and independent research; while the development of walking ability varies from child to child, by age 3 it was felt that it is realistically possible in the majority of cases to make an informed decision as to whether an inability to walk is the result of disability or long term health condition. We do however appreciate the difficulties that some families with severely disabled children aged under 3 face particularly those whose reliance on bulky medical equipment makes transportation difficult. We have met stakeholders at both Ministerial and official level to hear their concerns first-hand, and are continuing to consider this issue. As part of this, we have been in discussion with Motability to explore options for helping this group of children. Any further progress on this matter will be announced in due course.

Universal Credit: Payments

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect on claimants of issuing benefits on a monthly rather than weekly basis due to the introduction of universal credit.

Damian Hinds: The vast majority of legacy working age benefits are not paid weekly (JSA, ESA and IS, for example, are all paid fortnightly as standard), but DWP understands that the transition to monthly payments can be challenging for some claimants. The assessment period and payment structure is fundamental to the design of universal Credit and mirrors the world of work where the majority of employees are paid monthly, but there is an unprecedented level of support for people who need it. For example, advances are available to help claimants before their first payment and budgeting support is available to help claimants manage their money on a monthly basis, pay bills on time and take responsibility for housing costs. For those who can’t manage, alternative payment arrangements are available which can include more frequent than monthly payments and our research shows that the majority of UC claimants are comfortable managing their budgets.

Revenue and Customs: Staff

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether HM Revenue and Customs has sufficient staff to handle each and every complaint relating to personal independence payments within 15 days.

Penny Mordaunt: The DWP target for clearing complaints for claims in relation to Personal Independence Payment is 95% within 15 days. Year-to-Date, from April 2017, the DWP is achieving 96%. A number of complaints are complex and require advice and guidance from, for example, legal colleagues, and such cases can take longer than 15 days. The DWP therefore considers that the teams handling complaints for Personal Independence Payment are sufficiently staffed.

Income Tax: Disclosure of Information

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on including a person's estimated retirement date on annual tax summaries.

Guy Opperman: The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues including the Chancellor of the Exchequer on a range of issues. DWP is developing a range of means of communications for ensuring people know their State Pension age. The ‘Check your State Pension’ service currently provides everyone with personal information on their forecast amount and when they will reach State Pension age. This service is already part of the online Personal Tax Account service.

Employment and Support Allowance

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of employment and support allowance payment levels; and if he will undertake a review of the adequacy of the financial support provided for people who are in the employment and support allowance work-related activity group.

Penny Mordaunt: The Government published its assessment of the impacts of the change to the work-related activity component on 20 July 2015. http://www.parliament.uk/documents/impact-assessments/IA15-006B.pdf

Health: Employment

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many more people with a disability or long-term health condition are in work compared with 2010.

Penny Mordaunt: The Government is committed to supporting people with disabilities and long term health conditions to enter, remain in, and return to work, to deliver the health benefits that good work brings. Table 1 below shows the estimated number of people in work with a disability or long-term health condition for quarter 2 of each year from 2010 to 2017. Due to a change in the definition of disability in 2013, estimates before and after this date should not be compared. From 2010-2012 the number of people in work with a disability increased by 23,000, from 3.244 million to 3.266 million. The number of people in work with a long term health condition decreased by 31,000 from 7.273 million to 7.243 million. From 2013-2017 the number of people in work with a disability increased by 596,000 from 2.897 million to 3.492 million. The number of people in work with a long term health condition increased by 595,000 from 6.847 million to 7.442 million. Table 1: Number of people in work with a disability or long-term health condition for quarter 2 of each year from 2010 to 2017, UK Number of people with a disability in work (thousands)Number of people with a long-term health condition in work (thousands)Q2 20103,2447,273Q2 20113,2757,368Q2 20123,2667,243   Q2 20132,8976,847Q2 20143,0266,794Q2 20153,2577,077Q2 20163,3887,239Q2 20173,4927,442Source: Labour Force Survey, available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/labourmarketstatusofdisabledpeoplea08. But we know that there is much more that needs to be done, so that everyone who can work is given the right support and opportunities to do so. That is why we published Improving Lives; the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper, which set out the action we plan to take to achieve this and start a far-reaching, national debate on what more we can do to ensure everyone is supported to reach their full potential. The Government is currently carefully considering next steps.

State Retirement Pensions: Females

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support the Government is offering to women affected by the Pensions Acts of 1995 and 2011 to stay in work to a later age; and if he will make a statement.

Guy Opperman: The Government is committed to supporting people aged 50 years and over to remain in and return to work. The number of older women in work is now at a record high: there are around 1 million more women aged 50+ in work than in 2010. Government has reformed legislation to create the right framework to support Fuller Working Lives. We have removed the Default Retirement Age, meaning it is now unlawful to dismiss someone just because they reach age 65.We have also extended the right to request flexible working beyond those with caring needs, meaning people can discuss with their employers options for allowing choice about how and when they retire. And we have introduced pensions freedoms, to allow people aged 55 and over greater freedom and choice in how and when they access their pension savings. On 2 February 2017 we published Fuller Working Lives: A Partnership Approach, which aims to increase the retention, retraining and recruitment of older workers by bringing about a change in the perceptions & attitudes of employers, and to challenge views of working in later life and retirement amongst individuals. The Strategy and supporting evidence base are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fuller-working-lives-a-partnership-approach. We have also appointed a Business Champion for Older Workers, Andy Briggs, supported by a team of employers at Business In The Community, to support employers in retaining, retraining and recruiting older workers. In February 2017, the team launched a target to gain one million more older people in work by 2022, asking employers to commit to a pledge to publish their workforce data by age. Their report setting out their achievements to date was published on 07 September 2017 and can be viewed at https://age.bitc.org.uk/issues/BusinessChampion/govreport.

Occupational Pensions: LGBT People

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Department has made of the effect of the Walker v Innospec Limited case on pensions liabilities.

Guy Opperman: The Government is assessing what the full implications of the judgment will be. Once this is complete the effect on pensions liabilities overall can then be estimated. Individual pension schemes will also need to assess the implications of the judgment for their particular schemes.

Department for Work and Pensions: Cycling

John McNally: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent progress his Department has made on the implementation of the Government's Cycle to Work scheme for his Department's employees.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department for Work and Pensions already makes provision for our employees through an advance of salary to purchase a bicycle and safety equipment and retailer discounts, which are available via our employee discount scheme.We are currently working with a supplier with the intention of implementing a DWP Cycle to Work scheme by the end of this financial year.

Universal Credit

Margaret Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of universal credit claimants who were paid (i) monthly and (ii) weekly prior to claiming the benefit.

Margaret Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of people who claim universal credit as in-work support and who are paid (i) monthly and (ii) weekly.

Damian Hinds: Our evidence suggests that around 70% of people in employment on low incomes are paid monthly or 4 weekly. The Universal Credit monthly assessment period and payment structure therefore mirrors the world of work while providing the flexibility to adjust when claimants move in and out of work regularly. An assessment period of less than a month would not work for anyone who is monthly paid. In contrast, an assessment period of a month means the system can adjust to weekly fortnightly or four-weekly payments. As of 13 July 2017 there are 570,000 claimants on the Universal Credit caseload of which 220,000 (39%) are in employment. We do not have quality assured data on the payment cycles of universal credit claimants who are in work, or for those who were in work before they claimed, and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.

Universal Credit

Heidi Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what evidence his Department has that (a) under the full service and (b) under the live service universal credit (i) moves people into work more quickly and (ii) supports people to stay in work longer than the previous system; and if he will set out the timescale over which that evidence was collected.

Damian Hinds: We will be publishing further research on the employment impacts of Universal Credit shortly.

Universal Credit

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of tax credit recipients who are (a) lone parents with dependent children, (b) married or co-habiting couples with dependent children and (c) married or co-habiting couples with no dependent children who will receive universal credit by the completion of full service roll-out.

Damian Hinds: We estimate that the following numbers of Tax Credit recipient families will receive Universal Credit by the completion of Full Service roll-out: (a) lone parents with dependent children2,100,000(b) married or co-habiting couples with dependent children1,600,000(c) married or co-habiting couples with no dependent children100,000 Please note that these estimates do not take account of all Tax Credit recipients because of the differences in eligibility and take-up between Tax Credits and Universal Credit.

Universal Credit

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people receiving tax credits who will be receiving universal credit at the completion of full service roll-out.

Damian Hinds: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Home Office

Immigration

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time taken was to make decisions on requests for a change of conditions of leave granted on the basis of family or private life during each of the last 12 months.

Brandon Lewis: The specific information requested is not recorded and published. The closest published figures are the transparency data of cases processed within service standards for that period: The published transparency data for 2016 can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/594457/UKVI_TM_PM_Transparency_Data_Q4_2016.od

Public Spaces Protection Orders

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with the Local Government Association on the use of public space protection orders.

Sarah Newton: The Home Office has regular discussions with a range of partners including, the Local Government Association (LGA) on the use of the anti-social behaviour powers, including Public Spaces Protection Order, and the LGA is a member of the ASB Advisory Group which monitors the impact of the powers.

Public Spaces Protection Orders

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the use of public space protection orders and the effect of those orders on the level of crimes in the same locations where such orders have been imposed.

Sarah Newton: The Government has not made any assessment on the impact of Public Spaces Protection Orders on levels of crime. These orders are flexible and local in nature and designed to deal with problems in a specific area where anti-social behaviour has a detrimental effect on the quality of lives of those living locally. Local councils and agencies are best placed to monitor the use of these powers to ensure that the local community can feel safe and enjoy public spaces free from antisocial behaviour.

Police: Biometrics

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what mechanisms are in place to ensure that automated facial recognition software in use by police forces is independently tested for racial accuracy biases.

Mr Nick Hurd: It is an operational decision for police forces as to what testing is carried out of facial recognition software that they use.

Police: Biometrics

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which independent oversight mechanism is responsible for overseeing the police's use of automated facial recognition technology.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Surveillance Camera Code of Practice requires any police use of facial recognition or other biometric characteristic recognition systems to be clearly justified an proportionate in meeting the stated purpose. The retention of facial images by the police is governed by data protection legislation and by Authorised Professional Practice governed by the College of Policing.

Domestic Violence: Children

Mims Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many children have lost a parent to domestic violence in each of the last five years; and what steps have been taken to mitigate the effect of domestic violence on children.

Sarah Newton: The Home Office holds information on the number of domestic abuse-related incidents and offences recorded by the police in England and Wales. From this information it is not possible to tell how many children have lost a parent to domestic violence in the last five years however we recognise the devastating and lifelong impact that domestic abuse has on children who can carry the effect into adulthood. Since the last inspection, HMIC found that the police have improved their understanding of the impact of domestic abuse on children, and have increased their focus on the risk to children following a domestic abuse incident, resulting in a significant increase in referrals to social services.In addition, this Government will bring forward a Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill which will protect and support victims including children. This will include the Conservative manifesto commitment to allow courts to hand down tougher sentences on abusers where their behaviour involves a child, reflecting the grievous and life-long impact that abuse can have on children.

Home Office: Mckinsey and Company

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the value of contracts awarded by her Department and its arms-length bodies to McKinsey & Co in each year since 2013.

Sarah Newton: 2 contracts totalling £399,950The Home Office is committed to publishing all applicable contracts, over the value of £10,000 on the Contracts Finder website, at the following address:https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finderAll procurement requirements are acquired through competition unless there are convincing reasons (such as an emergency situation) to do otherwise. All requirements that exceed the EU procurement directives' financial thresholds are advertised in the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) via contract notices and all requirements over £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder. The Home Office Commercial Directorate website, via the link Procurement at Home Office - Inside Government - GOV.UK, provides information on how the Home Office does business.

Home Office: Mckinsey and Company

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the value of contracts awarded by her Department and its arms-length bodies to McKinsey & Co in each year from 2010 to 2013.

Sarah Newton: The Home Office is committed to publishing all applicable contracts, over the value of £10,000 on the Contracts Finder website, at the following address:https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder All procurement requirements are acquired through competition unless there are convincing reasons (such as an emergency situation) to do otherwise. All requirements that exceed the EU procurement directives' financial thresholds are advertised in the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) via contract notices and all requirements over £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder . The Home Office Commercial Directorate website, via the link Procurement at Home Office - Inside Government - GOV.UK, provides information on how the Home Office does business.

Asylum

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department uses for assessments of humanitarian protection after refugees have been in the UK for five years; and what that guidance advises on the (a) retention of documents, (b) time to be taken for the process and (c) criteria by which decisions should be made; and if she will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis: Guidance is based on asylum policy “Settlement Protection”. This guidance explains the circumstances in which the Home Office will consider an application for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) following a grant of refugee status and leave or humanitarian protection (HP). The Settlement Protection Asylum Instruction is published policy, and therefore publically available on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/settlement-protection-asylum-policy-instruction

Slavery

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with the head of the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) on tackling modern slavery in the UK; and what programmes of work her Department undertakes in cooperation with the GLAA.

Sarah Newton: The Home Office has regular discussions with the Chief Executive of the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) and the Chair of the Board as part of its routine business and strategic planning on departmental priorities. The Department is also supporting the GLAA as part of the reforms to labour market enforcement, which has included broadening the remit of the Authority, through the Immigration Act 2016, and giving it police powers to deal with serious cases of labour market abuse, including modern slavery. The Home Office will continue to work closely with the GLAA as the Director of Labour Market Enforcement develops the priorities for his annual strategy.

Refugees

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications her Department received for refugee family reunion visas on the basis of exceptional compelling compassionate circumstances outside the immigration rules for each country and year since 2010.

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many refugee family reunion visas were granted on the basis of exceptional compelling compassionate circumstances outside the immigration rules for each country and year since 2010.

Brandon Lewis: The data is not recorded centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Published statistics on visa applications in the Family category can be found online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/638590/entry-visas1-apr-jun-2017-tables.ods

Visas: Thailand

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Thai citizens were approved to visit the UK and failed to return to Thailand in 2016.

Brandon Lewis: The Home Office does not publish the specific information for the time period requested. However, information on the number of visas issued to Thai nationals can be found online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2017, and information regarding exit checks is available in the most recent Home Office report on exit check data which was published on 24th August.

Knives: Crime

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce knife crime.

Sarah Newton: Our Modern Crime Prevention Strategy published in March 2016 set out a range of measures to strengthen our response to knife crime. Our work to tackle knife crime is centred on four key strands – working with the police on operations and enforcement, work on legislative framework, work with retailers on responsible sales, and early intervention and prevention. We are encouraging police forces to undertake a series of coordinated national weeks of action to tackle knife crime under Operation Sceptre. The operation includes targeting habitual knife carriers, weapon sweeps, test purchases of knives from identified retailers, and the use of surrender bins. A record thirty-two police forces took part in the latest week of action in July and further weeks of action will take place later this Autumn. In 2016, we also legislated to ban the sale and importation of “zombie knives”. We have agreed a set of commitments with major retailers to prevent the underage sales of knives more generally in their stores and online. We are keeping the legislative framework under review and on 18 July 2017, the Government announced its intention to consult on new offences to tackle knife crime. The proposals include placing restrictions on the online sale of knives and creating a new offence of possession of an offensive or dangerous weapon in a private place. . Alongside the consultation on the legislative measures we are also taking forward a range of other actions. These include a national prevention campaign to be launched in the Autumn, supporting youth violence intervention and prevention work in hospital emergency departments, and launching an anti-knife community fund to support communities to respond to this issue.

Animal Experiments

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals Great Britain 2015, published by her Department on 20 July 2017, if she will take steps to reduce the breeding and dispatch of animals in the UK and make greater use of cryopreservation to maintain established lines of genetically altered animals for research purposes.

Mr Ben  Wallace: The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 requires licensees to apply the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement) at all times, including when breeding genetically altered animals. The Animals in Science Regulation Unit has developed a genetically altered animal assessment framework to support the delivery of the 3Rs through efficient breeding. The framework was designed specifically for the breeding of genetically altered mice, although the principles apply to many species. The framework encourages the use of options such as cryopreservation where appropriate.

Domestic Violence: Homicide

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it a requirement that the recommendations of the Independent Police Complaints Commission following a domestic homicide are binding on all agencies.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) can, in certain circumstances, investigate police actions relating to a domestic homicide. Where the IPCC have investigated, reported and issued recommendations as part of any investigation, the Government require the police and other agencies to respond.The Government introduced this statutory duty following a report from the Home Affairs Select Committee. The duty requires the force or agency to respond within 56 days, setting out what action they are taking or to explain why no action is being taken. These responses are published where possible.In addition, when domestic homicide occurs, local areas must undertake a Domestic Homicide Review and make recommendations on what lessons can be learned by all safeguarding professionals and organisations. Those involved must have regard to statutory guidance issued by the Secretary of State.The Government believes that these measures enable lessons to be learned by all relevant agencies following incidents of domestic homicide.

Domestic Violence

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will require police and crime commissioners to report annually on (a) prevention, (b) investigation and (c) post-conviction protection of victims of domestic violence.

Sarah Newton: Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are required under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 to produce Police and Crime Plans which set out the victims’ services that they plan to provide during their term of office. PCCs are also required to publish an annual report at the end of each financial year that demonstrates the progress which has been made in meeting those plans.This Government through its Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy will bring forward a Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill that will look at all the measures that have been introduced so far and see what further improvements can be made to ensure that victims of domestic abuse have the confidence to come forward and report their experiences, safe in the knowledge that the state and the justice system will do everything it can to both support them and pursue their abuser.

Rape: Criminal Investigations

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to review and improve processes of investigation of rape allegations.

Sarah Newton: It is essential that all victims of rape and sexual violence are treated with dignity, and all investigations are conducted thoroughly and professionally. We have supported HMIC’s publication of data on rape for every police force in the country as a basis for Chief Constables and PCCs to scrutinise how rape is dealt with in their local area, so that further improvements to the service provided to victims can be made. We are strengthening law enforcement capacity and capability and have provided around £8m extra investment through the Police Transformation Fund to transform policing to respond to changing crimes and threats, including crimes against vulnerable people. This includes £1.9m awarded to the College of Policing to transform policing’s approach to vulnerability. This will allow the college to develop a more comprehensive package of training for new leaders, who will coach, brief and debrief front line officers so they are better able to identify signs of vulnerability and provide support to victims. Training on domestic abuse, rape and sexual offences is contained within the Public Protection Learning Programme developed by the College of Policing. Initial response training for sexual offences is included in new recruit training. The College also provides guidance on investigating and prosecuting rape, and a toolkit providing rape investigating officers with in-depth guidance on challenging myths and stereotypes as well as evidential requirements on matters of consent. It is also developing clear standards to guide response at each level of investigation. More crimes are being reported to the police and sentence lengths for rapists have increased. Police recorded crime figures show more victims are having the confidence to come forward and the volume of prosecutions for rape in 2015-16 rose to 4,643, the highest volume ever recorded.

Asylum

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many section 95 support applications from asylum seekers are dealt with within 14 days.

Brandon Lewis: We do not have a target of determining support applications within 14 days and therefore do not collect data on how many cases are determined within that time period.

Asylum

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many straightforward asylum applications are completed within six months.

Brandon Lewis: The Home Office has recently started publishing performance against the service standard to decide 98% of straight forward asylum claims within 6 months of the date of claim. The first publication was on 25 August 2017 as part of the government’s Transparency Agenda. The full data release can be found at the following address http://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data . This data shows that of the 4,230 straight forward claims made in quarter 4 of 2016, 4,177 or 98.7% received a decision within 6 months.

Knives: Crime

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to page 40 of the Mayor's Office of Policing and Crime's report, The London Knife Crime Strategy, published in June 2017, what assessment she has made of the need for legislative proposals to introduce new knife crime-related community orders.

Sarah Newton: The Home Office is working closely with the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and we have noted the recommendations in their recently published strategy. There are already a range of sentencing options available to the courts to tackle knife crime offending including community orders as well as a range of other wider orders such as Criminal Behaviour Orders and gang injunctions.

Visas

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2017 to Question 5241, how many applicants who have paid for her Department's Priority Service have not received a response within the 60 days' time standard in each month for the last five years.

Brandon Lewis: Data on visa processing times, including the percentage of visas processed within published service standards, is published online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data (then listed by publication date under ‘UK Visas & Immigration’).

Visas: Malawi

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many visitor visas have been refused to Malawians who wish to visit the UK in each year since 2010.

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many visitor visas have been granted in each year since 2010 to Malawians wishing to visit the UK.

Brandon Lewis: Information on the number of Visit visa applications, is published quarterly.The most recent information can be found online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2017/list-of-tables#visas

Drugs: Misuse

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will review the UK's drugs policy and take steps to evaluate the effectiveness of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made on the effectiveness of its drugs policy on (a) reducing harm, (b) drug related deaths and (c) improving community safety.

Sarah Newton: The Government recently published an evaluation of the effectiveness and value for money of the activity provided by the previous Drug Strategy between 2010 and 2015. The evaluation assesses a range of outcomes of drug policy, including harms, drug-related deaths and community safety. We have no plans to review the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. We recently published a new Drug Strategy. This sets out a balanced approach which brings together police, health, community and global partners to tackle the illicit drug trade, protect the most vulnerable and help those with a drug dependency to recover and turn their lives around.

Animal Experiments: Primates

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what experiments accounted for the 50 per cent increase in 2016 in the number of experiments on new world monkeys, marmosets and tamarins.

Mr Ben  Wallace: The numbers of non-human primates used each year depends on a number of factors, including the programmes of work and available funding.In 2016 there were 125 new world monkeys, used in basic research: 49 for nervous system; and, 76 for multisystemic research. In the same year, 72 new world monkeys were used for translational and applied research: 24 for human nervous and mental disorders; 24 for other human disorders; and, 24 for non-regulatory toxicology and ecotoxicology.

Public Buildings: Fire Prevention

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2017 to Question 3762, on public buildings: fire prevention, whether her Department collects information on the number of fire and rescue service officers deployed to inspect and audit buildings under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

Mr Nick Hurd: It is the responsibility of individual fire and rescue authorities (FRAs) to assess and plan for potential risks at sites in their local area, as part of the process of the Integrated Risk Management Plan for their area. The government provides guidance to local resilience forums, which include the fire and rescue services, on how to interpret the risks in the National Risk Assessment and National Risk Register to help with their local assessment of risk. This ensures that risk assessment at all levels of government is integrated, so it can underpin coherent emergency planning throughout the country. FRAs are required to have a risk based inspection programme and management strategy in place to ensure compliance with the Fire Safety Order within their area.It is the responsibility of each FRA to manage its prevention, protection and operational resources to effectively address risks within their communities. This includes determining which premises to audit to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Fire Safety Order . There is no target for the number of fire safety audits that fire and rescue services must carry out each year.

Arts: EU Nationals

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations she has received from the creative industries about the provision of cultural and educational permits to EU residents after the UK leaves the EU.

Brandon Lewis: The Government is considering a range of options for the immigration system for EU citizens after the UK leaves the EU. Since the Referendum result last year, Ministers have been undertaking an extensive programme of engagement and evidence gathering with all interested parties including business, industry, trade unions, educational institutions and many others. On 27 July, my RHF the Home Secretary also commissioned the independent Migration Advisory Committee to advise on current patterns of EU migration across all sectors, and the role of migration in the wider economy and society.

Animal Experiments: Dogs

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what breeds of dogs were used in the 325 experiments (basic and applied research) listed in the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 2016, as being carried out on other breeds; and what those dogs were used for.

Mr Ben  Wallace: Breeds of dogs reported include Beagles, Labrador Retriever, Yorkshire Terrier, Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen and Jack Russell Terrier. These animals were used in nutrition and dentistry studies, the investigation of physiology, natural disease and its prevention.

Animal Experiments: Dogs

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the Government is doing to reduce the number of dogs used in experiments on living animals.

Mr Ben  Wallace: The published annual statistics of animals used under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA) in Great Britain show that in 2016 less than 0.1% of animals used in research in Great Britain are dogs. Dogs are primarily used in procedures for regulatory testing. They are also used in other procedures such as nutritional studies and to better understand naturally occurring diseases and to develop treatments for dogs themselves. Dogs are a specially protected species under ASPA. The Home Office will only grant a project licence for a programme of work using dogs where the purpose of the programme of work specified in the licence can only be achieved by their use, or where it is not practicable to obtain other suitable animals.

Entry Clearances

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for settlement visas were received in each year since 2005; and what average time was taken to process such applications.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what percentage of settlement visas were processed within 12 weeks in each year since 2005.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for settlement visas were received using the priority service in each year since 2005; and what average time was taken to process such applications.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of settlement visas using the priority service were processed within 12 weeks (a) in each year since 2005 and (b) for each quarter of the last two years.

Brandon Lewis: The Home Office publishes visa application data, including the number of settlement applications made, online at the following address: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2017 (under ‘list of tables - 2. Visas’). Data on visa processing times, including the percentage of visas processed within published service standards, is also published online at the following address: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data (then listed by publication date under ‘UK Visas & Immigration’)UKVI’s published timescale for processing standard visa applications is 12 weeks (60 working days) for settlement applications, and three weeks (15 working days) for non-settlement applications. Applications made under the priority visa service will be placed to the front of the processing queue and expedited, however timescales for decision are not guaranteed. If there is a problem with an application or it is complex and expected to take longer than the standard processing timescale, UKVI will write to the customer within the standard processing time and explain what will happen next.

Motorcycles: Road Traffic Offences

Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what resources her Department has made available to Merseyside Police to deal with scrambler bikes.

Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what resources her Department has made available to police forces around the UK to deal with scrambler bikes.

Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what advice her Department gives to local police forces on pursuing people on scrambler bikes.

Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what measures her Department is taking to keep scrambler bikes off the streets.

Mr Nick Hurd: Decisions on how to deploy available resources on particular crime types are for chief officers, in the case the Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, taking into account any specific local problems and demands. The police already have the power under section 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002 to seize vehicles used in a careless and inconsiderate manner or in a manner causing alarm, distress or annoyance to members of the public. This power is available in respect of scrambler bikes. Decisions on how to enforce road traffic offences, including on when to initiate a pursuit, are operational matters for the police, taking into account the guidance offered in the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice on Roads Policing Police Pursuits and the particular circumstances at hand.

101 Calls: Standards

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the latest performance data for the 101 service.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office no longer requests 101 performance data from forces, but you can find previously published data at https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/policeuk/callhandling/101_call_handling_Jun_2014.zip

Crimes of Violence: Acids

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to improve collaboration and information-sharing between public bodies including (a) NHS bodies, (b) police services and (c) local authorities in the response to attacks involving corrosive substances.

Sarah Newton: We recognise we require a range of partners to work together to tackle the use of acid and other corrosives in violent attacks, including police, health, local authorities, retailers and the voluntary sector. Our joint event on 4 July with the National Police Chiefs’ Council brought together a number of these partners to better understand the nature of attacks and agree what further action can be taken to prevent such attacks. The action plan has a range of actions including better data sharing between police and other partners such as health.

Asylum: Glasgow East

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 29 June 2017 to Question 106, how many asylum cases awaiting an asylum decision at 31 July 2017 gave a last address which was within Glasgow East constituency.

Brandon Lewis: It is only possible to supply data as of 30 June. Our records indicate that the number of asylum cases awaiting an initial decision at 30 June 2017 where the latest address is in the Glasgow East constituency is 109.

Sexual Offences: Advisory Services

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, (a) how many independent sexual violence advisers were employed in each of the 42 Crown Prosecution Service areas and (b) how much was spent on those advisers in each year since 2009-10.

Sarah Newton: The Government does not hold information on the number of Independent Sexual Violence Advisers (ISVAs) employed across England and Wales or in any given geographical area.While the provision of ISVAs is a matter for local areas, the Home Office provided £1.72 million per year up to March 2017 to part-fund 87 ISVAs in England and Wales, with the aim of embedding these services into local commissioning. The Government is continuing to fund additional ISVA support through successful bids into the 17m VAWG Service Transformation Fund announced in July 2017, and has published a VAWG National Statement of Expectations which sets out a clear blueprint for local action on VAWG and the importance of the ISVA role in supporting victims of sexual violence.

Home Office: Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether requests for consultancy and temporary staff for the her Department must be accompanied by a formal business case.

Sarah Newton: All requests for consultancy, and contingent labour are required to be supported by a business case.

Home Office: Consultants

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of consultancy assignments procured by her Department are paid at a daily rate.

Sarah Newton: The Home Department tries its upmost to avoid awarding contracts based solely around a day rate time and materials approach. The majority (over 98% in the case of this Financial Year) are contracted on maximum, capped or fixed cost basis.

Home Office: Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of requests for consultancy and temporary staff for her Department were approved via a resource board.

Sarah Newton: With the exception of Agency Workers allocated to Frontline Roles (where the roles are public or industry facing) all requests for consultancy and temporary staff are approved by the Resource Board.For Frontline Agency roles the responsibility for approval is delegated to the Command Director General.

Home Office: Assets

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in which of the last 10 years her Department has submitted a strategic asset management plan to the Government Property Unit.

Sarah Newton: The Government Property Unit has commissioned Strategic Asset Management Plans (SAMPs) from departments on an annual basis since 2014.The SAMP articulates the property aspects of a department's business and forms part of the overall planning framework in government linked to each Single Departmental Plan. In some cases, where there are significant changes to a Department's remit (such as following a machinery of government change or major business reviews), the timing of a SAMP refresh may be aligned with the broader strategy for the Department.Information is provided regularly to the Government Property Unit about the management of the department’s property assets and Executive Summaries of SAMPs will be published for the first time in Autumn 2017.

Home Office: Secondment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications her Department has received for (a) internal loans and (b) secondments from civil servants in each year since 2010.

Sarah Newton: The Home Office only holds central records for job applications since April 2014; since that time 4830 applications were received for roles advertised as loans and secondments through Civil Service Jobs.The data on whether these applications came from existing civil servants or other eligible NDPB people is not held.

Refugees: Children

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to ensure that unaccompanied child refugees are able to be reunited with their families in the UK once the UK leaves the EU.

Brandon Lewis: The UK strongly supports the principle of family unity and there are already legal routes for families to be reunited safely that are not dependent on our EU membership. The UK’s family reunion policy is generous, and we have and continue to reunite refugees with their immediate family, including granting over 23,000 family reunion visas over the last five years. The EU Dublin Regulation determines the Member State with responsibility for assessing an asylum claim. Under the Regulation unaccompanied children present in another EU Member State can be transferred to the UK to have their asylum claim assessed where they have a qualifying family member or relative legally present and transfer is in their best interests. We expect cooperation on asylum and migration with our European partners to continue after the UK leaves the EU, and will discuss the exact nature of this cooperation in the negotiations.

Crime: Salford and Eccles

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of any correlation between levels of crime and the number of police in Salford and Eccles constituency.

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the effect of the level for funding Greater Manchester Police in 2016-17 and 2017-18 on its ability to respond to all reported crimes in Salford and Eccles constituency.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Government protected overall police spending in the 2015 Spending Review, and the 2017/18 police funding settlement maintains that commitment. The Greater Manchester Mayor’s direct resource funding for his Police & Crime Commissioner functions (including council tax precept) is £545.4 million in 2017/18, an increase of £4.2 million on funding levels for 2015/16.It is a matter for Chief Constables, working with their Police and Crime Commissioners, to manage their available resources according to local priorities. However, Ministers have recently written to police leaders setting out a programme of engagement to better understand the impact of changing demands on the sector and what more can be done to improve productivity and efficiency.

Crime: Stafford

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of crime in Stafford constituency in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Nick Hurd: Police recorded crime figures for Stafford Community Safety Partnership (CSP) between 2011/12 and 2016/17 are published by the Home Office. Number of crimes recorded by the police, Stafford CSP, 2011/12 to 2016/17. Taken from ‘Police recorded crime open data Community Safety Partnership tables from year ending March 2012 onwards’, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tablesThe most recent national crime figures are published by the Office for National Statistics in ‘Crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2017’ (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingmar2017).

Antisocial Behaviour: Public Places

Iain Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the efficacy of playing classical music in public spaces to deter anti-social behaviour.

Sarah Newton: The Government has made no assessment of the effectiveness of playing music in public spaces to deter anti-social behaviour. However, the Government has introduced a range of powers in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. These powers are flexible and local in nature so that the police and local agencies are able to tackle anti-social behaviour the most effective way locally.

Crimes of Violence: Acids

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 26 July 2017 to Question 5949, on crimes of violence: acids, how many of the assaults identified involved (a) acid, (b) ammonia, (c) bleach and (d) other substances.

Sarah Newton: The table below sets out the substances identified as being used in attacks between November 2016 and April 2017 based on the returns from 39 police forces as part of the National Police Chiefs’ Council commissioned voluntary data collection.Indicative figures for 408 acid or corrosive attacks broken down by substanceAcid56Ammonia69Bleach71Other stated substance107Unknown liquid74No information provided31Total408Other stated substance included a range of diverse substances including boiling water, lighter fluid, petrol, CS and pepper spray and non-ammonia/bleach household cleaning products.These figures must be treated with caution, as they are not official statistics. Furthermore, they are only available for cases where the substance was recorded by officers and reflect what the officers involved in the case believed the substance to be, based on the available evidence.

Crimes of Violence: Acids

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to update guidance to classify acid as a weapon made for causing injury under section 1 of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953.

Sarah Newton: The carrying or possession of acid or other corrosive substances is already an offence under section 1 of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953 if it can be proved that it is intended to cause injury. The Crown Prosecution Service has published guidance to this effect.

Crimes of Violence: Acids

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 26 July 2017 to Question 5949, on crimes of violence: acids, if she will list the 39 police forces in England and Wales which provided figures on acid and corrosive attacks.

Mr Nick Hurd: The 39 police forces which provided returns to the voluntary data collection commissioned by the National Police Chiefs’ Council are set out in the table below.Avon and Somerset ConstabularyBedfordshire PoliceCambridgeshire ConstabularyCheshire ConstabularyCity of London PoliceCleveland PoliceCumbria ConstabularyDevon and Cornwall PoliceDyfed-Powys PoliceEssex PoliceGloucestershire ConstabularyGreater Manchester PoliceGwent PoliceHampshire ConstabularyHertfordshire ConstabularyHumberside PoliceKent PoliceLancashire ConstabularyLeicestershire PoliceLincolnshire PoliceMerseyside PoliceMetropolitan Police ServiceNorfolk ConstabularyNorth Wales PoliceNorth Yorkshire PoliceNorthamptonshire PoliceNorthumbria PoliceNottinghamshire PoliceSouth Wales PoliceSouth Yorkshire PoliceStaffordshire PoliceSuffolk ConstabularySurrey PoliceSussex PoliceThames Valley PoliceWest Mercia PoliceWest Midlands PoliceWest Yorkshire PoliceWiltshire Police

Missing Persons

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Government plans to publish its Missing Persons Strategy.

Sarah Newton: The Government is committed to updating the 2011 Missing Children and Adults Strategy. This will be published in the coming months.

Motorcycles: Crime

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with manufacturers and retailers about reducing crime involving motorcycles, mopeds and off-road vehicles.

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle criminal use of motorcycles, mopeds and scooters.

Sarah Newton: The Government is very concerned about crime enabled by motorcycle, moped and scooters. On 12 September, together with the Policing and Fire Service Minister Nick Hurd MP, I will co-chair an event, bringing together motor and insurance industry leaders, law enforcement partners, local government agencies, as well as youth charities and other groups, on addressing this emerging threat and to identify actions to reduce this type of crime.

Motor Vehicles: Crime

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle criminal use of off-road vehicles.

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) motorcycles, (b) mopeds and (c) off-road vehicles have been seized by police under section 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002 in each of the last five years.

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations she has received on application of the careful or competent driver standard to specialist police drivers.

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on the recording of crime involving motorcycles, mopeds, scooters or off-road bikes.

Mr Nick Hurd: The police have the power under section 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002 to seize any vehicle, including an off-road vehicle, used in a careless and inconsiderate manner or in a manner causing alarm, distress or annoyance to members of the public. The Home Office does not collect or hold information on the number of seized vehicles.The rules and guidance to the police on the recording of all crimes involving vehicles are set out in the National Crime Recording Standard and Home Office Counting Rules.Home Office Ministers and officials have regular discussions on a wide range of topics with those representing the interests of police officers, including those representing specialist police drivers.

Crimes of Violence: Acids

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many finished episodes were recorded by hospitals in England with an external cause of assault by corrosive substance for hospitals in 2016-17.

Sarah Newton: The Home Office does not collect data on hospital admissions episodes. This data is collected and produced by NHS Digital as part of Hospital Episodes Statistics.

CCTV

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations she has received from civil liberties campaign groups on the operation of and use of data from CCTV cameras with facial recognition and biometric tracking capabilities.

Sarah Newton: The Secretary of State has not received any representations from civil liberties campaign groups.

Police: Biometrics

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of people whose information has been recorded by mobile facial recognition software by police forces in each of the last three years.

Mr Nick Hurd: No estimate has been made.

Burglary

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police forces do not collect finger prints for break-ins.

Mr Nick Hurd: It is an operational decision for police forces as to whether to send a crime scene examiner to a crime scene to collect fingerprints. Information is not collected on the number of break-ins where forces do and do not collect fingerprints.

CCTV

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of current legislation regulating the use of CCTV cameras with facial recognition and biometric tracking capabilities.

Mr Nick Hurd: There is no legislation regulating the use of CCTV cameras with facial recognition and biometric tracking capabilities. However, the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice requires any police use of facial recognition or other biometric characteristic recognition systems to be clearly justified and proportionate in meeting the stated purpose. The retention of facial images by the police is governed by data protection legislation and by Authorised Professional Practice produced by the College of Policing.

Metropolitan Police: Biometrics

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with the Metropolitan Police on the use of mobile facial recognition software.

Mr Nick Hurd: Home Office Ministers have regular meetings as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.

Police: Biometrics

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward proposals to extend the remit of the Biometrics Commissioner to include oversight of the use of mobile facial recognition software by police forces.

Mr Nick Hurd: The future role of the Biometrics Commissioner is discussed in the Biometrics Strategy which will be published in due course.

Police: Biometrics

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has issued to police forces on the use of mobile facial recognition software.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office Centre for Applied Science and Technology (CAST) issued guidance to police forces in November 2012. Since then, CAST has provided further advice to those forces which request it.

Visas

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy for UKVI to give applicants a target date for when their visa applications will be processed.

Brandon Lewis: UKVI’s published timescale for processing standard visa applications is 12 weeks (60 working days) for straightforward settlement applications, and three weeks (15 working days) for straightforward non-settlement applications.If an application is complex and expected to take longer than the standard processing timescale, UKVI will write to the customer within the standard processing time and explain what will happen next.

Domestic Appliances: Counterfeit Manufacturing

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many seizures of counterfeit electrical goods have been seized in each port in Scotland in each of the last five years.

Brandon Lewis: This data could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.The Government views the problem of counterfeit electrical goods extremely seriously and the inherent dangers to public safety. Border Force are focused on detecting the smuggling of these items into UK ports across the country.

Counter-terrorism: Finance

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has for a further round of funding for projects in support of the Prevent Strategy.

Mr Ben  Wallace: Prevent works best when delivered in partnership, the foundation of the programme is the local work delivered through communities and our network of civil society groups. We have increased and diversified the organisation we work with, bringing bigger charities and more locally based groups. 169 community based projects were delivered in 2016/17 reaching over 53,000 participants. 44% of these projects were delivered in schools, aimed at increasing young people’s resilience to terrorist and extremist ideologies.

Offences against Children

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps have been taken to protect under 18 year olds from grooming and inappropriate relationships.

Sarah Newton: In February 2017, the Government published the Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation: Progress Report and announced a £40m package of measures to protect children and young people from sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking, and to crack down on offenders. This includes £2.3m for the successful Disrespect Nobody campaign, which raises young people’s awareness of healthy relationships. The National Crime Agency’s education programme, Thinkuknow, helps children and young people to identify the risks they may face both online and off. We are strengthening law enforcement capacity and capability and have provided millions of pounds of extra investment through the Police Transformation Fund to transform policing to respond to changing crimes and threats, including more than £20million to help combat the online grooming of children for sexual exploitation.The Children and Social Work Act (2017) made it a requirement that all primary schools in England teach relationships education and secondary schools in England teach relationships and sex education (RSE). First teaching is expected to commence in September 2019.

Slavery

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government has taken since 1 November 2015 to raise awareness amongst public authorities of their statutory duty to notify her where they have reasonable grounds to believe that a person may be a victim of slavery of human trafficking in accordance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (Duty to Notify) Regulations 2015.

Sarah Newton: We published guidance on the Modern Slavery Act on GOV.UK and a circular was sent to all bodies who are subject to the duty to notify when section 52 was first introduced. In October 2016, we launched a communications campaign to raise awareness amongst public bodies and made communications materials available on GOV.UK. We will continue to promote the duty to notify in consultation with key partners.

Slavery

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many notifications her Department has received under section 52 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 relating to slavery or human trafficking of (a) children and (b) adults.

Sarah Newton: As of 31 August 2017 under section 52 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 there have been 146 referrals to the Home Office where the victim was under 18 at the time of the suspected offence (but an adult when identified), and 1,699 when the victim was over 18 at the time of the suspected offence. There are a further 90 referrals where the victim’s age is unknown. Victims who are under 18 at the time of identification are automatically referred to the National Referral Mechanism.

Animal Welfare: Dogs

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Table 2.1 of the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 2016, of the dogs born outside Europe (a) what countries those dogs came from, (b) how those dogs arrived in the UK, (c) how her Department ensured those dogs' welfare during transport and (d) what those dogs were used for when in the UK

Mr Ben  Wallace: (a) The Home Office does not capture data on the source country of imported dogs born outside the European Union.(b) The Home Office do not hold data on how dogs were transported to the UK.(C) The welfare of dogs transported to the UK is the responsibility of the sending country and the sending establishment. Animals are subject to import checks at Border Inspection Points (BIPs). These checks are carried out by staff from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.(d) Most imported dogs are used for regulatory and toxicological research.

Theft: Dogs

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many dogs have been reported stolen in each of the last five years.

Mr Nick Hurd: The information requested is not held centrally. The Home Office holds information on notifiable offences recorded by the police including theft offences, but it is not possible to tell from this information how many dogs or pets in general were stolen.

Police: Armed Response Vehicles

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many armed response vehicles each police force had in each year from 2010 to date.

Mr Nick Hurd: The number of armed response vehicles (ARVs) by force is not centrally recorded. It is for Chief Officers in England and Wales to make decisions about the deployment of ARVs, based on a thorough assessment of the threat and risk in their local area.From April 2016, as part of our £144m Armed Police Uplift Programme, the total number of ARVs across England and Wales has increased by 41, with an additional 650 ARV Officers. The second phase of the programme, on track to deliver next year, will see an uplift of highly specialist counter-terrorism firearms officers, increasing the total number of armed officers by around 1,000 by the end of 2018.

Anti-social Behaviour: Motorcycles

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many reports of anti-social behaviour in connection with mopeds were made in Hornsey and Wood Green constituency in each of the last five years.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office collects data on the number of anti-social behaviour incidents recorded by the police forces in England Wales. It is not possible to tell from these data how many incidents related to vehicles or the type of vehicle involved.Anti-social behaviour incidents recorded by the police are published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and can be found here:https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesbulletintables

Police: Mental Health Services

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police forces have made representations for additional funding to support people affected with mental health issues.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Government has protected overall police spending in real terms since the Spending Review in 2015. In addition, nine police forces have submitted a total of 11 bids collectively, for Home Office innovation or transformation funding in relation to local projects involving support for people affected by mental health issues. Of these, six of the bids have been successful.

Police: Mental Health Services

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average number of police responses to calls from people with a mental health issue was in (a) England and (b) West Yorkshire in each of the last five years.

Mr Nick Hurd: Many police forces have local joint initiatives with health partners to respond to people with mental health issues. For example, approximately 38 police forces in England have access to a Street Triage service – where mental health professionals accompany police officers on patrol and all forces have access to mental health partners who provide advice and support them in dealing with the public. Information on the average number of responses to calls from people with a mental health issue, by the police, is an operational matter for individual police forces and is not held centrally by the Home Office.

Refugees: Children

Tommy Sheppard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking together with the French Government to reduce the level of unnecessary force used by the police in that country against child refugees and to ensure the protection of unaccompanied child refugees seeking a place of safety in the UK.

Brandon Lewis: The responsibility for maintaining law and order in France lies with the French government. No one should live in makeshift camps in Calais, which is why we continue to work closely with the French authorities on border security and migration issues, including helping to fund alternative facilities elsewhere in France for Calais migrants provided by the French government. However, the primary responsibility for unaccompanied children lies with the authorities in the country in which children are present. The UK government does not have the authority to operate unauthorised on the territory of another sovereign state. The UK is also proud to have transferred over 750 children from France to the UK last year as a result of the Calais camp clearance, and we continue to work with the French authorities to transfer unaccompanied children who may be eligible under the Dublin Regulation or section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016.

Police: Cameras

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the use of body-worn cameras to capture evidence for use in law courts.

Mr Nick Hurd: The decision to procure and deploy BWV cameras is a matter for Police and Crime Commissioners and chief officers.

Travellers: Caravan Sites

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of whether police forces in (a) England and (b) the West Midlands are effective in using the powers available to them to remove Travellers from unauthorised encampments.

Mr Nick Hurd: There are a range of existing powers available for both the police and local authorities to tackle unauthorised encampments. The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 provides specific powers to the police to move travellers from unauthorised encampments if certain criteria are met.The Home Office works closely with the police to ensure the powers they have are fit for purpose. However, the decision on when and whether to use police powers is an independent operational decision for the police.

101 Calls

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the efficacy of the 101 service for reporting low level crime.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Ipsos Mori survey for HMIC “Public views of policing in England and Wales 2016/17” published on 20 July 2017 shows that: people are most likely to call 999 for crimes/incidents against the person; there is a balance between 999 and 101 for property-related incidents; while for online incidents, anti-social behaviour and updates on previous incidents, 101 is the most likely choice. The survey can be found at:https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/2017-07/public-views-of-policing-2017-hmic.pdf

101 Calls

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many calls to the 101 non-emergency crime reporting service were terminated by the caller while waiting for an operator in each local authority area in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Mr Nick Hurd: The handling of 101 calls is an operational matter for the police. The Home Office does not request 101 data from forces.

Police: Cameras

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to make it a requirement for all on-duty uniformed and armed police to wear body cameras.

Mr Nick Hurd: The decision to procure and deploy BWV cameras is a matter for Police and Crime Commissioners and chief officers. The Home Office is aware that most forces in England and Wales use BWV to some extent. Each force will have its own implementation plan and schedule for the rollout of cameras, but this information is not held centrally.

Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013: Sole Traders

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 on sole traders.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 which introduced a regulatory licensing scheme for scrap metal dealers that had seen a significant reduction in metal theft from 62,457 offences in 2012/13 to 16,155 in 2015/16.The provisions contained in the legislation have been generally welcomed and supported by industry partners and sole traders and there are tough measures in the legislation to tackle the activities of those who operate outside the law.

Entry Clearances: India

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average length of time taken to process an application for a priority settlement visa in New Delhi was in the latest period for which figures are available.

Brandon Lewis: The specific data requested is not published by the Home Office. Published data on visa processing times, including the percentage of visas processed within published service standards, is published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data (then listed by publication date under ‘UK Visas & Immigration’).

Police: Finance

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it remains her policy to reform the police funding formula.

Mr Nick Hurd: No decisions have been taken on the police funding formula and no new funding formula will be put in place ahead of a public consultation.However, we have recently written to police leaders setting out a programme of engagement to better understand the impact of changing demands on the sector.

Drugs: Venezuela

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will provide an update on the work of the National Crime Agency to tackle drug trafficking in Venezuela.

Mr Ben  Wallace: The UK works closely with international partners, including Venezuelan law enforcement, to counter Serious and Organised crime threats by disrupting and dismantling organised crime networks and seizing illicit commodities. The NCA engage with a number of Law Enforcement partners in Central and South American to counter the threat posed by drugs and original crime groups to the UK. The UK works closely with international partners, including Venezuelan law enforcement, to counter Serious and Organised crime threats by disrupting and dismantling organised crime networks and seizing illicit commodities.

Runaway Children: Protection

Ms Harriet Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which recommendations of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Missing and Runaway Children and Adults report, Inquiry into the safeguarding of absent children, published in July 2017, her Department (a) has implemented, (b) is planning to implement and (c) will not be implementing.

Sarah Newton: The Home Office is currently considering the recommendations of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Missing and Runaway Children and Adults’ report, ‘Children who go missing and are criminally exploited by gangs’, which was published on 13 July 2017. We are taking firm action to tackle the issue of child criminal exploitation and I have written to the Chair of the APPG with an offer to meet to discuss the report’s findings.

Poisons: Sales

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many retailers have reported suspicious transactions involving reportable poisons since the commencement of the Deregulation Act 2015.

Mr Ben  Wallace: Since the implementation of the Deregulation Act 2015, the Home Office has engaged with a wide range of retailers that supply both regulated and reportable explosive precursors and poisons. This ongoing work has resulted suspicious transactions being reported to the National Counter-Terrorism and Policing Network. Due to operational security, we are unable to provide exact details.

Passports: Children

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to amend children's passports to include the names of both of their parents.

Brandon Lewis: There are currently no plans to add parents or other person’s names to children’s passports.

Passports: Children

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many British women have been asked by UK Border Control to prove they were related to their children when attempting to enter the UK since 2010.

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what documentation is required to be held by a mother and father when travelling abroad with their child where the child has taken their father's name but the mother has retained her maiden name.

Brandon Lewis: Border Force does not record the occasions on which British women are asked to prove their relationship to their children on arrival to the United Kingdom. Therefore it is not possible to provide this information. It is not currently mandatory for a parent or guardian to produce documentation that explains their relationship to the child they are travelling with. However, in certain circumstances, such as a parent who has a different surname to their child, Border Force advises that they carry relevant documentation that verifies the relationship. Border Force has a statutory duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children entering the United Kingdom. Its officers are trained to identify safeguarding issues and, where necessary, will conduct checks to confirm the relationship between a child and the parent or guardian they are accompanied by.

Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 is fully and uniformly enforced.

Sarah Newton: Enforcement of the regulatory regime introduced by the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 is the responsibility of police and local authorities to ensure that those who wish to trade in scrap metal are compliant with the provisions and that action is taken against those rogue dealers who flout the law. We are continuing to work with the police and other partners through the National Metal Theft Working Group to monitor the operation and impact of the legislation.

Asylum

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum claims have included reference to sexuality or gender identity in each year since 2011.

Brandon Lewis: The Home Office remains committed to publishing information on the number of people claiming asylum on the basis of sexual orientation. Work is ongoing to assure the quality of the data for publication in line with reporting standards

Northern Ireland Office

Northern Ireland Office: Secondment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many applications his Department has received for (a) internal loans and (b) secondments from civil servants in each year since 2010.

Chloe Smith: The information requested is not held by my Department and to create it would incur a disproportionate cost.

Northern Ireland Office: Assets

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, in which of the last 10 years his Department has submitted a strategic asset management plan to the Government Property Unit.

Chloe Smith: The Northern Ireland Office submits its strategic asset management plan as part of the Cabinet Office’s affiliated cluster.

Northern Ireland Office: Consultants

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what proportion of consultancy assignments procured by his Department are paid at a daily rate.

Chloe Smith: My Department employs professionally qualified officials and utilises expertise from other Government bodies to reduce its requirement for consultancy assignments. However in the 2016-17 financial year, the Department has procured three consultancy assignments, two of which have been paid at a daily rate.

Northern Ireland Office: Brexit

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, which EU legislation within his Department's responsibilities will (a) be incorporated into UK law through the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill and (b) require to be amended under powers in that Bill.

Chloe Smith: The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill will convert European Union law into UK law as it applies in the UK at the moment of exit. This will ensure that, wherever possible, the same rules and laws will apply the day after exit as they did before.The Government is still making a detailed assessment of what corrections will be required to make that law function appropriately on exit day. The Government’s current estimate is that we will need to make between 800 and 1,000 statutory instruments to make exit a reality in UK law.

Northern Ireland Office: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much his Department has received from sub-lets on its estate in each year since 2010.

Chloe Smith: The Department did not receive any income from sub-lets on its estate in the period 2010-2016. During 2016-17, the Department received £20,000 from this source.

Northern Ireland Office: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many procurements undertaken by his Department have taken more than (a) three months, (b) six months, (c) one year and (d) two years.

Chloe Smith: Since the start of the 2016-17 year, my Department has only undertaken one procurement which has taken more than three months. This procurement took more than one year to complete.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Broadband: Cricklewood

Dawn Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made an assessment of the effect of limited (Exchange Only) internet speeds on businesses operating in the Cricklewood Broadway area.

Matt Hancock: No specific assessment has been made of the effect of Exchange Only (EO) lines on businesses operating in the Cricklewood Broadway area. Upgrading EO lines is more complicated (and more expensive) as there are greater engineering challenges. For instance, because EO lines do not have the copper lines routed through a copper cabinet, there is no aggregation point to which a fibre cabinet can be connected. For these reasons it can take longer for EO lines to be upgraded. Openreach have confirmed this, and have advised that they currently fall outside any commercial rollout. However, they have said there is potential for EO lines to be brought into scope for upgrading through their Community Fibre Partnerships.For those that do not see improved connectivity through publicly funded and commercial investment, we will ensure universal broadband coverage of at least 10Mbps, so that no home or business is left behind We are keen to ensure even better digital connectivity in the UK. We announced a package of measures worth £1.1 billion at Autumn Statement 2016 to support this:The Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund, which was launched on 3 July 2017 will provide finance for new fibre investments.The Local Full Fibre Networks programme, which will support local bodies in stimulating the market for fibre connectivity in their areas.A Bill to enable business rates relief for new fibre build.Together, these investments and incentives will stimulate the market to deliver the increase in capacity that is needed.

Internet: Safety

Mims Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent progress has been made on implementing the internet safety strategy; and how that strategy plans to tackle the effects of social media-related mental health issues in young adults.

Matt Hancock: Since the announcement of the Internet Safety Strategy in February, DCMS has been working with a wide range of stakeholders to look at how we can make Britain the safest place in the world for users, including children and young adults, to be online. The Strategy will consider online harms which users can experience on social media. We will be publishing the Strategy with an accompanying consultation shortly.

Public Libraries: Closures

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the number of local libraries closing.

John Glen: Local authorities in England have a statutory duty under the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 (1964 Act) to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service.In December 2016, the Taskforce published ‘Libraries Deliver: Ambition for Public Libraries in England 2016-2021’, which sets out a vision for library services in England. The Government is working with the Taskforce to promote good practice and innovation to assist library services and enable them to be sustainable for the long term.

Arts: Free Movement of Labour

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what economic assessment the Government has made of the impact on ending freedom of movement on the creative industries.

Matt Hancock: After the UK leaves the EU, free movement will end but migration between the UK and the EU will continue. The Government has been clear that, in future, the Free Movement Directive will no longer apply, however the UK will remain an open and tolerant country; one that recognises the valuable contribution migrants make to our society and welcomes those with the skills and expertise to make our nation better still. To retain the UK’s position as a world leader in the creative industries, the UK needs to continue to attract the brightest and best, including those from the EU, with high level skills that can support the creative sector, the industrial strategy and benefit the wider UK economy.

Art Works: Taiwan

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Taiwanese Government to display works of art from the National Palace Museum of Taiwan in British museums.

John Glen: DCMS has had no discussions with the Taiwanese authorities about the display of artworks from the National Palace Museum, Taipei at British museums.

Broadband: Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk

John Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how she plans to improve access to broadband services in Berwickshire Roxburgh and Selkirk.

Matt Hancock: The Department has contributed £50.8 million to the current Highlands & Islands broadband project and £50 million to the project for the Rest of Scotland. A further £20.99 million has been allocated to support further Rollout by Digital Scotland across both projects which could include Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk. For premises not covered by superfast broadband, we will ensure universal broadband coverage of at least 10Mbps, so that no home or business is left behind.

Arts: EU Nationals

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the provision of short-term work visas for EU residents in the creative industries wishing to do project work in the UK after the UK leaves the EU.

Matt Hancock: The Secretary of State for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has regular discussions with ministerial colleagues on a range of issues affecting the creative industries, including the impacts and opportunities presented by the UK’s exit from the EU.

Arts: EU Grants and Loans

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will conduct an audit of EU funding to the UK creative sector.

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans she has made to replace EU funding to the UK creative sector once the UK has left the EU.

Matt Hancock: Leaving the EU means we will want to take our own decisions about how to deliver the policy objectives previously targeted by EU funding. We are working closely with stakeholders to review all EU funding schemes in the round, to ensure that any ongoing funding commitments best serve the UK‘s national interest.

Sports: Females

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will bring forward proposals to ensure more women are encouraged into sport.

Tracey Crouch: The government's sport strategy sets out our plans to get more people active, in particular in under-represented groups, including women. Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign, and other initiatives, have helped to narrow the gender gap in sport participation. Results from the Active Lives survey, published earlier this year, showed that 59% of women and 63% of men had done at least 150 minutes of physical activity a week, the amount of activity recommended for adults by the Chief Medical Officer.

Broadband: Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk

John Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many properties in Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk are estimated not to have access to superfast broadband services.

Matt Hancock: Currently there is an estimated 12,300 premises in Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk which do not have access to superfast broadband from either a commercial or publicly funded programme. This means over 75% of the constituency can access superfast broadband, up from below 5% in 2010.

Broadband: Competition

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure competition among providers where fibre optic broadband is rolled out.

Matt Hancock: Since 2016 all new procurements under the Superfast Broadband Programme have been open to all suppliers to bid. BT, Gigaclear and Airband have all been successful in winning contracts. Prior to this, in 2014 and 2015, we supported seven market test pilot projects with seven different providers, which helped demonstrate new technologies and delivery models for superfast broadband The Government has announced a package of measures worth £1.1 billion to support full fibre roll out and ensure we have the world class digital infrastructure that we need. This support is available to any provider. In July, we introduced a Bill to provide for 100% business rates relief for new fibre installed by any provider for 5 years and many providers are already engaged in the project.

Broadcasting: EU Countries

Vicky Ford: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with her EU counterparts on long-term broadcast access to the EU for Ofcom-licensed broadcasters based in the UK after the UK leaves the EU.

Matt Hancock: The UK is currently the EU's biggest broadcasting hub, and the sector makes an important contribution to our thriving creative industries. During our negotiations with the EU we will work to get the right deal for broadcasters and will support their continued growth in the UK

Sky: 21st Century Fox

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how she plans to keep Parliament informed about the merger of Sky with 21st Century Fox before making her decision on that merger; and if she will make a statement.

Matt Hancock: I refer the Hon member to the statement made today in the chmaber by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport.

Technology: UK Trade with EU

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has undertaken an impact assessment of the effect on the UK tech sector of the UK leaving the single market.

Matt Hancock: Ensuring that the UK's digital and technology sector remains strong and at the forefront of international innovation and enterprise are priorities for this Government Since the 2016 referendum, Her Majesty's Government has carried out extensive and diverse engagement with hundreds of businesses of all sizes across the UK on the potential implications of our withdrawal from the EU, alongside extensive wider analysis and engagement.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Consultants

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of consultancy assignments procured by her Department are paid at a daily rate.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether requests for consultancy and temporary staff for the her Department must be accompanied by a formal business case.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of requests for consultancy and temporary staff for her Department were approved via a resource board.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many applications her Department has received for (a) internal loans and (b) secondments from civil servants in each year since 2010.

Matt Hancock: The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur a disproportionate cost.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Arms Length External Organisations

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the number of new arms-length bodies her Department plans to establish once the UK has left the EU.

Matt Hancock: The UK’s relationship with the EU's agencies upon exit will be evaluated in light of delivering the twelve objectives outlined by the Prime Minister to achieve a deep and special partnership between the UK and the EU. The UK’s future relationship with the EU's decentralised bodies after leaving the EU is a matter for the negotiations. Prior to any decisions on establishing new agencies, the Government will, however, always look to minimise disruption and costs, which will include considering alternative options.

Parliamentary Proceedings: Radio

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions the Government has had with the BBC on broadcasting parliamentary proceedings on the radio.

Matt Hancock: The BBC broadcasts weekly and daily summaries of Westminster parliamentary activity on Radio 4. The BBC is operationally and editorially independent of government and coverage of parliamentary proceedings is a matter for the BBC. The government therefore has had no recent discussions with the BBC on broadcasting parliamentary proceedings on the radio.

Voluntary Work: Young People

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when the Government plans to respond to the Public Accounts Committee report of 14 March 2017, National Citizen Service, HC955, Session 2016-17; and what the reason is for the time taken so far to respond to that report.

Tracey Crouch: Government’s response to the Public Accounts Committee Report on National Citizen Service is in the form of a Treasury Minute. Due to the Parliamentary timetable, the publication of the Minute has been postponed until October.

Voluntary Work: Young People

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when the Government plans to report on its review into full-time youth volunteering; and what the reason is for the time taken to publish that report.

Tracey Crouch: The Full Time Social Action Review is an independent review chaired by Steve Holliday. The Review is currently gathering evidence and intends to report in December 2017.

National Citizen Service Trust: Directors

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what her policy is on targeting recruitment of new board members for the National Citizen Service at young people; and when the next recruitment of board members for that service is due to take place.

Tracey Crouch: The NCS Trust is currently a Community Interest Company and is therefore responsible for its own Board recruitment. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is currently advertising for board members for the new NCS Royal Charter body. The vacancies have been advertised through various channels, including the NCS Twitter page, Generation Change, Step Up to Serve, and the British Youth Council, as well as on the public appointments website at www.publicappointments.cabinetoffice.gov.uk.

Young People

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether it is the Government's policy to deliver a three year youth policy statement; when she plans to announce her priorities and plans for youth policy; and what the reason is for the time taken for the Government to deliver that statement.

Tracey Crouch: DCMS conducted a series of regional workshops in March and April to discuss current issues for youth policy with representatives from the youth sector, local authorities and young people. The evidence gathered is being used by the Office for Civil Society across their youth policy work.

Youth Services: Radicalism

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the role of youth work in combating radicalisation.

Tracey Crouch: DCMS is aware of examples which suggest that youth services can be part of combating radicalisation. For example, Active Change Foundation Ltd, one of the organisations being funded through the Youth Investment Fund, is working with young leaders to give them the skills they need to lead change in their communities. Stopping extremist recruitment is one of the areas of focus for this project.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Departmental Responsibilities

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with which Minister of her Department the brief for youth policy, the National Citizen Service and the UK Youth Parliament lies; when the Government plans to publish the terms of reference and timetable for its review of youth policy; and whether the reduction in the number of Ministers in her Department has had an effect on the number of civil servants in her Department.

Tracey Crouch: I was appointed as Minister for Sport and Civil Society in July. The Civil Society portfolio includes responsibility for Youth Policy, the National Citizen Service and the UK Youth Parliament. There was no change in the number of civil servants in the department as a result of that appointment. DCMS conducted a series of regional workshops in March and April to discuss current issues for youth policy with representatives from the youth sector, local authorities and young people. The evidence gathered is being used by the Office for Civil Society across their youth policy work.

Conservation Areas: Greater London

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to create more conservation areas across London.

John Glen: In this, the 50th anniversary of their introduction, I can confirm that in total nearly 10,000 localities in England have been designated as conservation areas, including over 1,000 in London. Though the Secretary of State has discretion to designate conservation areas, local planning authorities are generally best placed to do so by identifying those parts of their locality that possess special architectural or historic interest. Historic England has recently published guidance to support local planning authorities through this process.

Broadband: North West

Trudy Harrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many small businesses in the North West can access broadband.

Matt Hancock: According to Ofcom’s Connected Nations Report, 89% of UK homes and small and medium-sized businesses are now able to receive superfast download speeds of 30 Megabits or higher, and all homes and businesses can now access broadband speeds of 2 Megabits per second. This is fast enough for everyone to gain access to every government service available online. ThinkBroadband’s latest figures indicate that superfast coverage of 30 Megabits or higher is currently available to 94.7% of premises across the North West. We are determined to ensure even better digital connectivity in the UK, and we announced a package of measures worth £1.1 billion at Autumn Statement 2016. This includes The Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) programme, which will support local bodies in stimulating the market for fibre connectivity in their areas. The six local test projects were announced on 3rd September. The Super Connected Cities Programme, which closed in 2016, offered vouchers to SMEs to help with connectivity. Interest in connection voucher scheme was very high in the North West which resulted in over over 5590 connections being made in the region.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Brexit

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which EU legislation within her Department's responsibilities will (a) be incorporated into UK law through the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill and (b) require to be amended under powers in that Bill.

Matt Hancock: The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill will convert European Union law into UK law as it applies in the UK at the moment of exit. This will ensure that, wherever possible, the same rules and laws will apply the day after exit as they did before. The Government is still making a detailed assessment of what changes will be required to make that law function appropriately on exit day. The Government’s current estimate is that we will need to make between 800 and 1,000 statutory instruments to make exit a reality in UK law.

Listed Events

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when she next plans to review the list of sporting events of national interest available to all television viewers.

Matt Hancock: We currently have no plans to review the list of sporting events of national interest.

Swimming: Autism and Down's Syndrome

Heidi Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the change to eligibility groups in the pilot scheme introduced by the International Federation for Intellectual Impairment Sport (INAS) on encouraging more people with Down's syndrome and autism to enter the 2017 INAS World Swimming Championships.

Tracey Crouch: We welcome the efforts of international bodies, like the International Federation for Intellectual Impairment Sport, to make their events more inclusive. The government supports efforts that aim to encourage disabled people, including those with Down's syndrome and autism, to become active and to fulfil their sporting potential. The government's sport strategy, Sporting Future: A Strategy for an Active Nation (published in Dec 2015), places a focus on encouraging activity amongst those less likely to be active, including disabled people. Government is not involved in the selection of the British team for the INAS World Swimming Championships - British entries are sanctioned by the UK Sport Association for People with Learning Disability (UKSA). It is for them to liaise with organisations like Down's Syndrome Swimming GB about British entries into the event.

Mass Media and Sports: Employment

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to promote the creation of jobs in alternative media and sport industries outside London; and if she will make a statement.

Matt Hancock: Government recognises the role played by creative businesses, including media, right across the UK in local economic growth. Government supports this growth via tax credits, regional development programmes, relocation of Arms Length Bodies associated with the sector, rebasing of public sector broadcasters and putting ‘place’ at the heart of the Industrial Strategy. We are actively considering moving Channel 4 out of London Whilst London remains a hub for media jobs, official estimates also demonstrate impressive growth in different geographical regions around the UK. For example, growth of Yorkshire & Humber’s film and TV industries has outstripped that of every other part of the UK, increasing by 40 per cent in the last year. In sports , DCMS has created a Sports Business Council will act as a forum for the sport and physical activity sector to work with Government to identify and take action to ensure the sector continues to grow and prosper. The Council will give due regard to devolved, regional and local areas and the impact of actions agreed by the Council on these areas. Sport England invests significant National Lottery and Exchequer funding across England. Of the £962m it invested across England over the 2012-2017 period, approximately £704m was invested in the non-London regions. In addition to its existing grant funding regime, as part of its Towards an Active Nation strategy (May 2016) Sport England announced that approximately £130m would be spent across 4 years on delivering around 10 place-based pilots. These pilots will be focused on trialling targeted and partnership driven approaches to tackling inactivity and working with specific demographics across a mix of urban and rural geographies.

Coventry City Football Club: Sportsgrounds

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with the (a) English Football League or (b) Football Association on Coventry City Football Club's search for a long-term stadium solution within Coventry.

Tracey Crouch: I have regular discussions with the English Football League and the FA on a number of matters. I am aware that talks around where the club will be playing its home matches from next season are still ongoing. I would urge all relevant parties to agree a plan, so that attention can turn to working together, to provide the clarity needed for the club and its loyal supporters.

Arts: Meetings

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will list the attendees at any roundtable events that she or Ministers in her Department have held with representatives of the creative industries.

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will publish details of (a) the roundtable events she or Ministers of her Department have held with representatives of the creative industries and (b) the attendees at those events.

Matt Hancock: The department meets daily with stakeholders from across the range of DCMS policy. The most formal contact with the creative industries is through the Creative Industries Council and its members. Further details including membership of the Council and minutes of council meetings are available on the GOV.UK website.

National Lottery: Wales

Ian C. Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much the National Lottery received from the sale of lottery tickets in each constituency in Wales in each of the last three years.

Tracey Crouch: National Lottery good cause money is allocated by expert bodies at arm's length from Government, taking account of their own priorities and the need for equitable distribution. It is not linked to sales distribution and Government does not collate this information. Data on ticket sales is a matter for Camelot, the National Lottery operator. Camelot releases detailed national sales information which can be found online at: http://www.camelotgroup.co.uk/about-us/reporting. Camelot does not release more granular sales data due to its commercially sensitive nature. Information on projects in receipt of a Lottery award can be found on the National Lottery Grants Database at the following link; http://www.lottery.culture.gov.uk and from Lottery Distributors' own websites.

Department of Health

Pharmacy

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the total number of repeat prescriptions issued by (a) high street and (b) internet pharmacies has been in each year since 2007 in (i) England and (ii) each local authority area.

Steve Brine: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 11 September 2017.The correct answer should have been:

The total number of repeat dispensing prescription items issued by wholly distance selling pharmacies, including internet pharmacies, and other community pharmacies, including those on the high street, for each year since April 2013 in England is detailed in the table below:Time PeriodRepeat Dispensing Prescription Items for Distant Selling PharmaciesRepeat Dispensing Prescription Items for Other Community PharmaciesYearly Total2013 (Apr-Dec 2013)625,15749,222,45049,847,6072014 (Jan-Dec 2014)1,076,06073,769,90974,845,9692015 (Jan-Dec 2015)1,482,94284,411,85385,894,7952016 (Jan-Dec 2016)2,001,32695,730,82097,732,1462017 (Jan-May 2017)930,75342,216,95843,147,711Total6,116,238345,351,990351,468,228The requested data is not provided before 2013 as the NHS Business Services Authority only holds prescription payment data for a period of 60 months, at which point it is destroyed in line with their records management policy. Also this coincides with NHS England becoming responsible for commissioning community pharmacy services from April 2013. As such, data is attached on repeat dispensing prescription items by NHS England local areas, rather than local authority areas.



Repeat prescriptions by NHS England area
(Excel SpreadSheet, 21.08 KB)

Steve Brine: The total number of repeat dispensing prescription items issued by wholly distance selling pharmacies, including internet pharmacies, and other community pharmacies, including those on the high street, for each year since April 2013 in England is detailed in the table below:Time PeriodRepeat Dispensing Prescription Items for Distant Selling PharmaciesRepeat Dispensing Prescription Items for Other Community PharmaciesYearly Total2013 (Apr-Dec 2013)625,15749,222,45049,847,6072014 (Jan-Dec 2014)1,076,06073,769,90974,845,9692015 (Jan-Dec 2015)1,482,94284,411,85385,894,7952016 (Jan-Dec 2016)2,001,32695,730,82097,732,1462017 (Jan-May 2017)930,75342,216,95843,147,711Total6,116,238345,351,990351,468,228The requested data is not provided before 2013 as the NHS Business Services Authority only holds prescription payment data for a period of 60 months, at which point it is destroyed in line with their records management policy. Also this coincides with NHS England becoming responsible for commissioning community pharmacy services from April 2013. As such, data is attached on repeat dispensing prescription items by NHS England local areas, rather than local authority areas.



Repeat prescriptions by NHS England area
(Excel SpreadSheet, 21.08 KB)

Nurses: Training

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will bring forward proposals to ensure that sufficient people train as nurses to address any shortfall in NHS nurse provision.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to address nurse shortages and pay gaps between English regions.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Government is undertaking a range of measures to ensure sufficient nursing workforce supply: On 1 August 2017 the Government changed the funding system for pre-registration nurse training from National Health Service-funded tuition and bursaries to the standard student support system. This change means we have moved away from centrally imposed number controls and financial limitations and therefore the artificial cap has been removed. We expect that these reforms will be enable universities to offer up to an additional 10,000 training places by 2020, for nurses, midwives and allied health profession students. Developing new routes into nursing is a priority for the Department. In November 2016 the new Nursing Associate role and the Nursing Degree Apprenticeship was announced. Once established, up to 1,000 apprentice nurses could join the NHS each year. In addition the Department is working with its arm’s length bodies to ensure that the NHS retains more of its existing workforce and invests in the Return to Nursing Practice Programme. Agenda for Change - the national pay system under which nurses are paid - includes mechanisms that enable trusts to target pay to address local recruitment and retention issues. In making recommendations to the Government on pay for nurses and other staff covered by Agenda for Change, the independent NHS Pay Review Body considers evidence from a wide range of stakeholders including trades unions, NHS Employers, NHS Providers, NHS England, NHS Improvement, Health Education England and others, not just from the Government. In its March 2017 report the NHS Pay Review Body noted that it had received no evidence from any party, including trades unions, for making any changes to the existing mechanisms; and that there was no support from any party for targeting the pay award for 2017/18.

Mental Health Services: Expenditure

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his Department spends per capita on mental health per year in (a) England and (b) York.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The information requested is shown in the following table for the most recent year available. Expenditure on mental health services for England and the Vale of York, 2015/16. 2015/16Total SpendSpend per head£000s£Vale of York46,662148.68England9,148,314157.10Note: Figures do not include expenditure on specialised commissioning.Source: NHS England, Mental Health Five Year Forward View Dashboard https://www.england.nhs.uk/mental-health/taskforce/imp/mh-dashboard/

Health Professions: Education

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many applications there have been for entry to 2017-18 degree courses for (a) physiotherapy, (b) midwifery, (c) occupational therapy,(d) speech and language therapy, (e) dietetics, (f) podiatry, (g) diagnostic radiography, (h) therapeutic radiography, (i) paramedic science, (j) prosthetics and orthotics, (k) orthoptics, (l) art therapy, (m) drama therapy and (n) music therapy.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Department is not responsible for collecting data on the number of applications to study degree courses in allied health profession subjects. The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service publishes data on the number of applications to full-time undergraduate courses. Further information is available at:https://www.ucas.com/corporate/data-and-analysis/ucas-undergraduate-releases/2017-cycle-applicant-figures-june-deadline-0

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much funding is provided each year for research into myalgic encephalomyelitis.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME); it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity. Currently, the NIHR is funding one project on ME; a large randomised controlled trial of an internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy for children aged 11-17 years. It is being led by Professor Esther Crawley at Bristol University and is funded for £994,430. It began in May 2016 and further information on this, and all NIHR funded projects, can be found at:https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/programmes/hta/14192109/#/summary-of-research

Pregnancy: Mental Health Services

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much of the £290 million funding announced in January 2016 for perinatal mental health has been allocated; and if he will provide a full breakdown of the allocations from that fund made to date.

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) parents and (b) children have received treatments under the £290 million funding announced in January 2016 for perinatal mental health.

Jackie Doyle-Price: In January 2016 the Government set out that an additional £290 million would be made available over the next five years to 2020/21 to invest in perinatal mental health services. A full breakdown of the allocations is not currently available. The Department does not hold data on the number of parents or children who received treatments under the £290 million made available for perinatal mental health.

Psychiatric Nurses

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the recommended caseload for a community psychiatric nurse is.

Jackie Doyle-Price: There is no standard recommended community psychiatric nurse caseload. An appropriate maximum caseload would depend upon the individual community psychiatric nurse’s casemix and the associated level of need, risk and complexity.

Psychiatric Nurses

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average turnover rate is for community psychiatric nurses.

Jackie Doyle-Price: NHS Digital publishes workforce statistics. Community Psychiatry Nurses have a stability index of 82.2% The Stability Index is the percentage of staff there are at the start of the period that do not leave the specified group (e.g. organisation, staff group or the National Health Service in England) during period in question. For example, if a trust had 100 nurses in July and a year later 90 of those nurses remained in post, the trust’s Stability Index would be expressed as 90%.

Mental Health Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average waiting time is for (a) a mental health assessment and (b) mental health treatment in (i) England and (ii) York.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Waiting times for mental health treatment referrals are available where the relevant mental health pathway has been defined. This currently relates to referrals on the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme and the Early Intervention in Psychosis pathway.The latest available data for these services for England and NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Groups are shown in tables 1 to 3 in the attached document.



PQ7120 attached document
(Excel SpreadSheet, 55.03 KB)

Mental Health Services: Staff

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what comparative assessment he has made of the level of staffing available for mental health services in (a) York and (b) England.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Government has recognised the need to enhance the numbers of professional and allied healthcare support staff working in mental health and on the 31 July the Health Education Executive published Stepping forward to 2020/21: The mental health workforce plan for England. The plan identifies approximately 194,000 full time equivalent (fte) people that are substantively employed by the National Health Service in England to care for people who need mental health services. As at May 2017, figures from NHS Digital show 2,227 fte staff working in the Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, and 5,781 fte staff working in the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, both providers, provide mental health services within the York region. The Mental Health Workforce plan for England sets out how the health service will dramatically increase the number of trained nurses, therapists, psychiatrists, peer support workers and other mental health professionals to deliver the improvements in services and support set out in the NHS’s Five Year Forward View for Mental Health. The plan envisages that by 2020/21 local areas will need to create 21,000 new posts in priority growth areas. All major specialties will see an expansion in numbers, with the plan targeting areas where there are forecast to be particular shortfalls. The report is available at the following link:https://www.hee.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/documents/CCS0717505185-1_FYFV%20Mental%20health%20workforce%20plan%20for%20England_v5%283%29.pdf

Family Nurse Partnership Programme

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many parents in each year since 2010 have been placed on the family nurse partnership programme.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The table below shows the number of ‘active clients’ (mothers only) the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) has had since 2010. An active client is defined as being enrolled on the FNP programme and received at least one visit during the year. A client who completes the programme is typically active in multiple calendar years. The data presented is for England only.Calendar yearActive clients20105,59020116,24220128,40320139,982201411,850201514,702201614,412

Blood: Contamination

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in (a) York Central constituency and (b) the Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group have been affected by contaminated blood.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department does not hold this information.

Healthy Start Scheme

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether health visitors are required to (a) inform parents of their entitlement to Healthy Start vouchers and (b) assist them through the application process.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Health visitors work with parents who have new babies, offering support and informed advice in order to promote good health and prevent illness. Families from all walks of life may need support for specific issues that affect their children’s health and development, so the actual service provided to each particular family will vary according to a personalised assessment of their own needs and evidence of what will work for them.Health visitors draw on their knowledge of the families they work with to promote the Healthy Start Scheme to those who may be eligible. The Healthy Start application form must be countersigned by a healthcare professional, and this provides an opportunity for health visitors to support people to complete the form.

Healthy Start Scheme

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information on healthy eating is given to parents alongside Healthy Start vouchers.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Healthy Start vouchers are aimed at helping low income and disadvantaged families buy basic foods. Health professionals provide appropriate advice on breastfeeding and healthy eating to the applicant. Alongside Healthy Start, there are various National Health Service and public health platforms that offer parents information on healthy eating, including NHS Choices, Change4Life and Start4Life.

NHS: Cybercrime

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what changes have been made to the NHS' cyber security following the cyber attack in May 2017.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department developed an immediate response plan, working with the National Cyber Security Centre, NHS Digital, NHS England, NHS Improvement, and the Care Quality Commission. Your Data: Better Security, Better Choice, Better Care is the Government’s Response to data security and was published in July 2017. This document accepts the 10 Data Security Standards proposed by Dame Fiona Caldicott, the National Data Guardian, and sets out the timescales for how the Government plans to deliver key actions on cyber security and data sharing in a high level implementation plan. The immediate response plan and the high level implementation plan is being taken forward as part of the formal Data and Cyber Security Programme which includes a range of measures to build resilience and responsiveness to the health and care sector against a cyber attack.

Hospital Beds

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the NHS has spent on healthcare for patients who have been unable to leave hospital due to a lack of adequate adapted housing in each of the last five years.

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost to the public purse was of the NHS accommodating patients who cannot be discharged due to the lack of disabled housing in each of the last five years.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The amount spent by the National Health Service on healthcare for patients who have been unable to leave hospital due to a lack of adequate adapted housing in each of the last five years is not collected centrally. Similarly, the cost to the NHS of accommodating patients who cannot be discharged due to a lack of disabled housing is not collected centrally. However, the Government publishes monthly data on the number of delayed transfers of care, broken down by the reason for delay. The latest available information can be found at:www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/June-17-DTOC-SPN.pdfIt shows that, in June 2017, the number of delayed days attributable to the two categories for reason for delayed days which most closely align to the requested information – ‘Awaiting community equipment and adaptations’ and ‘Housing - patients not covered by NHS and Community Care Act’ - form only a small proportion (approximately 5%) of overall delayed days.

Drugs: North East

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the latest statistical bulletin published by the Office for National Statistics on deaths related to drug poisoning, what steps he is taking to address the disproportionately high drug mortality rate in the North East.

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has for a specialist drug treatment and recovery pilot programme in the North East.

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of deaths from illegal drug use in the North East.

Steve Brine: Local authorities are responsible for commissioning effective drug and alcohol prevention and treatment services based on an assessment of local need. Public Health England (PHE) supports local authorities to do this, by providing bespoke data, value for money tools, topical briefings, and advice on good practice to help local authorities meet the needs of their local population. In the North East, PHE work to help local areas prevent drug-related deaths includes: - running forums and networks to facilitate regional groups of commissioners, providers and service users working together, sharing practice and disseminating new policy and guidance;- offering bespoke support packages to local authorities where necessary; and- promoting the use of naloxone and training people how to use it across the North East.Nationally, PHE has issued advice on providing naloxone, published updated clinical guidelines for drug treatment and worked with a network of treatment providers to establish good practice guidance on managing drug-related death risk factors and to improve partnership between treatment providers and other healthcare services.PHE has also established a new Public Health Outcomes Framework indicator on drug-related deaths to enable local areas benchmark their performance against others. Ongoing national work by PHE to help prevent drug-related deaths includes: - helping local authorities improve their drug-related death review process;- helping local authorities increase the number of people with drug problems who are in drug treatment; and- improving intelligence on the adverse health effects of drugs.

Mental Health Services: Occupational Therapy

Dr  Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many full-time equivalent occupational therapists working in mental health the NHS has employed in each year since 2006-07.

Dr  Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many full-time equivalent physiotherapists working in mental health the NHS has employed in each year since 2006-07.

Dr  Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many full-time equivalent social workers working in mental health the NHS has employed in each year since 2006-07.

Jackie Doyle-Price: NHS Digital publishes workforce statistics and the following table shows the number of social services staff, occupational therapy staff and physiotherapy staff employed in the National Health Service trusts and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) each year since 2009. Data for May 2017 is provided as this is the latest available. Due to changes in data collection and processing methodology it is not possible to provide data prior to September 2009 in a form which is directly comparable with the rest of the time series. Therefore data has been provided for September 2009 onwards only. NHS Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS): Specified qualified staff working in mental health in NHS trusts and CCGs in England as at 30 September each year and latest data as at 31 May 2017 full time equivalent (fte). 20092010201120122013201420152016May 2017Occupational Therapy staff (fte)4,2594,2604,6995,3805,5995,6355,7075,8585,888Physiotherapy staff (fte)3874201,1132,2042,3142,3612,3112,4272,440Social Services staff (fte)8329251,0121,0791,0991,2031,2791,4421,603Source: NHS Digital, Provisional NHS HCHS monthly workforce statistics

Clinical Psychologists

Dr  Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many full-time equivalent psychologists have been employed by the NHS in each year since 2006-07.

Dr  Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many full-time equivalent psychiatrists have been employed by the NHS in each year since 2006-07.

Dr  Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many full-time equivalent mental health nurses have been employed by the NHS in each year since 2006-07.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Workforce statistics are regularly published by NHS Digital across all professions and are publically available at:https://digital.nhs.uk/article/6679/2017Latest figures requested specifically have been provided as follows: As at May 2017 there were 7,034 (fte) clinical psychology staff, 8,805 psychiatrists (fte), and 38,807 mental health nurses (fte)

Continuing Care

Richard Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to simplify the continuing health care application process.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department is working with NHS England, clinical commissioning groups, Directors of Adult Social Services, local authorities and stakeholder groups to understand how the NHS Continuing Healthcare experience can be improved for all. Additionally, NHS England launched the NHS Continuing Healthcare Strategic Improvement Programme on 1 April 2017. The aim of the Strategic Improvement Programme is to provide fair access to NHS Continuing Healthcare in a way which ensures better outcomes, better experience, and better use of resources.

Continuing Care

Richard Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many families seeking continuing healthcare pay for legal support.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Information on the number of people paying for legal support regarding NHS Continuing Healthcare is not collected centrally.

Medical Records: Data Protection

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the official period is for the retention of patient documents.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The official period for the retention of patient documents is provided in the ‘Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care 2016’ published by the Information Governance Alliance.

Medicine: Education

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when the outcome of consultation on expansion of undergraduate medical education will be announced.

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent steps his Department has taken to ensure that adequate numbers of junior doctors are being trained.

Dr Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to support the development and growth of smaller and non-London medical schools.

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what criteria are used to decide where to establish new medical schools.

Dr Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to announce the criteria and timetable for allocating additional undergraduate medical student places.

Dr Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when allocating the 1000 additional undergraduate medical student places, what steps he plans to take to ensure that medical schools outside London receive a fair allocation of those places.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Government has announced a historic expansion of medical school places in England, with an increase of 1,500 medical school places in England. The first 500 places have already been allocated and will be available to students in September 2018. The Government response to the recent consultation was published on 9 August 2017, confirming that 1,000 additional medical school places would be available to medical schools in England via a competitive bidding process to be managed jointly by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and Health Education England (HEE). It also set out the priority areas bidding criteria would need to focus that include aligning the expansion to local National Health Service workforce need with an emphasis on priority geographical areas, including rural and coastal areas. HEFCE and HEE are currently finalising the design of the bidding process and will publish details in the autumn.

Health Professions: Education

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when data obtained by his Department and arms-length bodies from UCAS on the number and profile of applications for entry to medical and nursing courses in 2017-18, specifically by subject, profession and geographical spread, will be released.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Department is not responsible for collecting data on the number of applications to study degree courses in allied health profession subjects. The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service publishes data on the number of applications to full-time undergraduate courses. Further information is available at:https://www.ucas.com/corporate/data-and-analysis/ucas-undergraduate-releases/2017-cycle-applicant-figures-june-deadline-0

Infected Blood Reference Group

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, who his Department approached to advise on the membership of the Infected Blood Reference Group; how many (a) people and (b) organisations were invited to attend that group; how many (i) people and (ii) campaigners are members of that group; and if he will publish correspondence which invited members to join that group.

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many meetings the Infected Blood Reference Group has held since its creation; which dates that group met; and if he will publish the minutes of the meetings of that group.

Jackie Doyle-Price: As stated in the 2017 document “Infected blood: Government Consultation on Special Category Mechanism and other support in England”, the Department brought together a diverse group of experts and stakeholders to help inform and shape the reforms set out in the Consultation. This was a light-touch informal group that met several times prior to the publication of the consultation and it was never intended to provide a report on the meetings or its members.

Eating Disorders

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to introduce an equivalent access and waiting time standard for people over 19-years of age who have an eating disorder to that which is in place for people under the age of 19 with such a disorder.

Jackie Doyle-Price: A pathway for adults with eating disorders, together with detailed implementation guidance for providers, will be developed by the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health in partnership with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence during 2017/18. This work will be fully informed by the available evidence and the views of experts by experience. In parallel to this, a baseline data collection will be undertaken to measure existing levels of investment, capacity and activity across inpatient and community services for adults with eating disorders to assess the feasibility of introducing a mandatory waiting time standard.

Health Visitors

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of recent trends in the (a) size of health visitors' caseloads and (b) duration of each home visit undertaken by health visitors.

Jackie Doyle-Price: No national guidelines exist for size of health visitor caseloads and duration of home visits as these will vary considerably over time and location in order to meet local circumstances, complexity of intervention and the needs of each individual family. With this requirement for flexibility, it is, therefore, very difficult to identify trends and no national data is held to enable an assessment.

Healthy Start Scheme

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the level of the take-up of Healthy Start vouchers.

Jackie Doyle-Price: As of 20 August 2017, the level of uptake of Healthy Start vouchers is 64%. The Healthy Start Scheme is a demand-led programme. The Government is working to ensure that eligible families are aware of the Scheme and how it can help them. It is promoted via the Healthy Start and Start 4 Life websites, reminding families to take up the vouchers. At a local level, midwives and health visitors play a key role in promoting awareness of the Scheme.

Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the Government has learned from the implementation of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003; and whether such lessons will influence the future shape of mental health legislation in England and Wales.

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the Government has learned from the implementation of recent changes to mental health and mental capacity legislation in Northern Ireland; and whether such changes will influence the future shape of mental health legislation in England and Wales.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Queen’s Speech confirmed the Government’s intention to reform mental health legislation, including the Mental Health Act. Details will be published in due course.

Eating Disorders

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what effect data for Q1 2017-18 published by NHS England on the access and waiting time standard for people under-19 years of age with eating disorders has on the Government's assessment of its progress against the targets set out in that standard; and if he will make a statement.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The publication of Quarter 1 2017-18 data for the access standard for people under 19 years of age with eating disorders was the first publication of this data collection, which commenced in April 2017. The National Health Service is working towards full achievement of this access standard by 2020.

Health Services: Reciprocal Arrangements

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the Government's policy is on (a) continuing membership of the European Health Insurance Card scheme and (b) establishing similar arrangements to those which obtain under that scheme after the UK leaves the EU; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne: As long as we are a member of the European Union we will respect the rights and obligations of EU membership, therefore the current arrangements for European Health Insurance Cards (EHIC) remain in place.As recently set out in the United Kingdom’s offer on citizens' rights, “Safeguarding the position of EU citizens living in the UK and UK nationals living in the EU”, in a reciprocal deal, the UK will seek to protect the ability of individuals who are eligible for a UK EHIC, before the specified date, to continue to benefit from free, or reduced cost, needs-arising healthcare while on a temporary stay in the EU. The UK will also seek an ongoing arrangement akin to the EHIC scheme as part of negotiations on our future arrangements with the EU.

Compulsorily Detained Mental Patients: Parkinson's Disease

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people with Parkinson's disease have been sectioned under the Mental Health Act 1983 in each of the last 10 years.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The number of people detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 with specific conditions is not collected centrally.

Plastic Surgery: Ethics

Clive Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will take steps to implement the recommendations of the Nuffield Council bioethics report, Cosmetic procedures: ethical issues, published in June 2017.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Government is committed to ensuring that individuals make informed and safe choices about cosmetic interventions. Since publication of Sir Bruce Keogh’s Review of the Regulation of Cosmetic Interventions, in 2013, we have implemented a number of important changes to that end. A copy of the report is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-the-regulation-of-cosmetic-interventions We are considering options for the effective registration and regulation of those performing cosmetic interventions, and the Nuffield Council’s thorough and thoughtful report will help to inform our thinking about how to take this forward.

Mental Health Services

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent steps the Government has taken to improve support for people with mental health issues.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Government published its response to the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health on 9 January 2017. The Government accepted all the report’s recommendations and published a detailed and robust action plan for taking them forward, including how we will monitor progress and report this transparently. By 2020/21 there will be over £1 billion of extra investment every year, and the Government’s ambition is that as a result, each year, one million more people with mental health problems will access high quality care that they are not receiving today. For children and young people, the Department of Health is working with the Department for Education to produce a Green Paper on Children and Young People’s Mental Health, and to make Mental Health First Aid training available in primary and secondary schools. The Department of Health and NHS England will develop service capacity so that, by 2021, no child will be sent away from their local area to be treated for a general mental health condition. For working age adults, the Prime Minister has asked Lord Stevenson, who has campaigned on these issues for many years, and Paul Farmer, CEO of Mind and Chair of the NHS Mental Health Taskforce, to work with leading employer and mental health groups to create a new mental health partnership with industry, and make prevention and breaking stigma priorities for employers. The Government is also undertaking a full review of employment discrimination laws for employees with mental health problems. NHS England is investing £67.7 million in digital mental health services to expand rapidly the treatment available.The Department is also making available up to £15 million additional funding available to support community clinics, crisis cafes, and alternative places of safety, to support preventative services in the community; and is investing over £10 million to support the fast track Think Ahead programme for mental health social workers.

Mental Health: Males

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent steps the Government has taken to raise awareness of male mental health issues.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Improving mental health services for all is a priority for this Government but we are aware of the importance of addressing mental health issues with specific regard to men. We promote innovation in developing mental health services and interventions focused on men including programmes such as State of Mind and the Men’s Sheds movement. We are aware that suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50 and therefore in the updated National Suicide Prevention Strategy published in January we set out ways in which we are strengthening delivery of the strategy’s aims such as better targeting of high risk groups, such as men. This is supported by every local authority implementing a local suicide prevention plan by the end of 2017. Guidance issued to local authorities by Public Health England last year sets out the importance of targeting men, as a high risk group, in local suicide prevention plans. £12 million has been allocated between 2016/20 in Time to Change to challenge mental health stigma, which has reached 750, 000 children and young people through social marketing campaigns and improved attitudes of over 4.1 million people in England. Their latest campaign, In Your Corner, is specifically targeted at men.

Eating Disorders: Medical Treatments

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average waiting times are for people with an eating disorder aged 19 and under to receive treatment in (a) Colne Valley, (b) Kirklees, (c) West Yorkshire and (d) England.

Jackie Doyle-Price: National and regional data on waiting times for children and young people with an eating disorder are collected and published by NHS England and are available at:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/cyped-waiting-times/

Blood: Contamination

Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to consult in Wales on establishing terms of reference for the inquiry into contaminated blood.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Government has written to recipients of the ex gratia schemes which provide financial and other types of support to those affected by HIV and/or hepatitis C through treatment with National Health Service-supplied blood or blood products before September 1991, seeking their views on the scope, format and sponsorship of the inquiry. This includes recipients in Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Blood: Contamination

Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to work with the devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland on setting the terms of reference for the inquiry into contaminated blood.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Government is working with the devolved administrations to ensure that they are fully consulted in developing the Terms of Reference for the inquiry into contaminated blood, particularly given the Government’s intention that the inquiry should cover the whole United Kingdom as the events in question pre-date devolution. UK Government officials are in regular contact with officials in the devolved administrations about the inquiry.

Prisoners: Medical Treatments

Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many prisoners have required (a) medical treatment and (b) emergency medical treatment at an NHS hospital at (i) HMP Parc, (ii) HMP Bure and (iii) HMP The Mount in the past 24 months.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Carers: Pay

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that social care providers can pay their staff rates above those set for the national minimum wage (a) generally and (b) for sleep-in shift arrangements.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The National Minimum Wage is the legal minimum employers must pay their workers. The Government is committed to creating an economy that works for everyone, and ensuring workers are paid fairly. It is the responsibility of all employers to pay the correct minimum wage to their staff, and HM Revenue and Customs takes enforcement action against those who do not. The Government has received many representations from social care providers about the implications of being required to pay penalties or arrears relating to underpayment of the National Minimum Wage. The Government will waive the financial penalties faced by employers who are found to have underpaid their workers for “sleep-in” shifts. The waiver is to apply to any arrears of pay resulting from “sleep-in” shifts that took place before 26 July 2017.The Government will continue to work with representatives of the social care sector to see how it might be possible to minimise any impact on provision of social care as a result of this situation. To allow this work to take place before deadlines of arrears of wages are enforced, the Government has adopted a policy of temporarily suspending enforcement activity of “sleep-in” shifts. This suspension will apply until 2 October 2017. The stability of the social care sector is a key Government priority. Consequently, at the Spring Budget the Government announced that it was providing an additional £2 billion to councils in England for social care, including £1 billion this year.

Department of Health: Cybercrime

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the principle set out in paragraph 5.3.6 of the Government's Cyber Security Strategy that everyone who works in government has a sound awareness of cyber risk applies to members of staff employed by contractors doing work procured by his Department.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The National Cyber Security Strategy 2016-2021 was published in November 2016 by the Minister for the Cabinet Office who has responsibility for cyber security and Government security. The Department is committed to keeping its systems safe and to protect our data and our networks from attack or interference. All permanent staff, plus contractors or agency staff who work with the Department for three months or more, are expected to undertake a “Responsible for Information” training course that covers cyber security awareness. When procuring goods and services from third parties, the Department must comply with Procurement Policy Action Note 09/14 published on 25 May 2016 on the Cyber Essentials Scheme, which includes a set of controls which, when properly implemented, provide organisations with basic protection from the most prevalent forms of threat coming from the internet. The Department is able to specify services in a way that best meets its needs and can take further steps to protect data and networks if relevant to the contract in question.

Department of Health: Secondment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many applications his Department has received for (a) internal loans and (b) secondments from civil servants in each year since 2010.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Department does not hold information on the number of applications received for internal loans and secondments. The number of secondees and loan in to the Department in 2016/17 was six. Data is not held for the years 2010/11 to 2015/16.

Department of Health: Consultants

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of consultancy assignments procured by his Department are paid at a daily rate.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of requests for consultancy and temporary staff for his Department were approved via a resource board.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether requests for consultancy and temporary staff for the his Department must be accompanied by a formal business case.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Department has procedures in place to comply with Cabinet Office Efficiency controls ensuring that all requests for consultancy or temporary staff are subject to approval by formal panels. These panels provide the ultimate approval based upon business case submissions. We do not recognise the term ‘resource board’, however, the process for approving professional services spend is via a professional services business case (PSBC) that gets approved by the Finance Approvals Panel (FAP). Temporary staff are approved via one of two routes: - Specialist Contractors = PSBC to secretariat then FAP - Admin and Clerical = complete a ‘Request to Recruit’ Form (which is a proportionate type of business case) which is then submitted via a secretariat. With regard to the question on rates, the Department does hold this information on its electronic procurement system from which the proportion of consultants on daily rates could be calculated, however, this would require a review of each individual contract to check the payment method, and would result in disproportionate cost. We are not therefore able to provide this information.

Maternity Services: East Sussex

Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what risk assessment East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust carried out on perinatal and other maternity-related deaths before removing consultant-led maternity services from that Trust area.

Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what risk assessment East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust carried out on the implications of potentially longer travel time resulting from the move of consultant-led maternity services to Hastings for the health of mothers and pre-born or new-born babies.

Mr Philip Dunne: NHS Improvement advises that when making the decision in 2013 to consolidate consultant-led maternity services at one site, East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust considered a number of risks and mitigations, including risks to patient safety. As part of this assessment, the trust also looked at travel times. The Government is clear that all service changes should be based on clear evidence that they will deliver better outcomes for patients. Any changes should meet the four tests for service change: they should have support from general practitioner (GP) commissioners, be based on clinical evidence, demonstrate public and patient engagement, and consider patient choice. Implementation of the agreed service changes is a matter for the local National Health Service. It is for the local NHS to keep any service change under review, in line with its role in ensuring services provided are high quality, safe and sustainable.

Mobile Phones: Aerials

Michelle Donelan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to review the acceptable levels of exposure to radiofrequency radiation from mobile telephone base stations.

Steve Brine: Government policy is that exposures to electromagnetic fields from mobile phone masts and other radio-transmitting equipment should comply with the guidelines on limiting exposure from the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). This policy is reflected in the National Planning Policy Framework for England, which contains provisions in respect of ICNIRP compliance. The former Health Protection Agency published a comprehensive review of the evidence prepared by its independent Advisory Group on Non-ionising Radiation (AGNIR) in 2012. The Group’s overall conclusion was that although a substantial amount of research has been conducted in this area, there is no convincing evidence that electromagnetic field exposures below guideline levels cause health effects in either adults or children. Included within the AGNIR report are many measurements that have been published showing that exposures of the general public living near to mobile phone masts are well within the ICNIRP levels. Public Health England has committed to keeping emerging evidence under review and preparing another comprehensive review when sufficient new evidence has accumulated.

Mental Health Services

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of processes within NHS mental health trusts for monitoring whether patients have been offered NICE-recommended psychological therapies.

Jackie Doyle-Price: NHS Improvement’s Single Oversight Framework (SOF) is designed to help National Health Service providers meet and exceed the standards required of them. Two of the standards in the SOF for mental health providers which can trigger action relate to improving access to National Institute for Health and Care Exellence-recommended psychological therapies: Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) and Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP). Additionally, NHS England employs a Mental Health Intensive Support Team. This team undertakes work with mental health providers to improve their operational processes, information systems and data submission to support delivery and monitoring of both the IAPT and EIP waiting and access standards. NHS England expects that clinical commissioning group contracts with providers include the monitoring of providers’ delivery against defined service specifications.

Depressive Illnesses: Mental Health Services

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what implications the findings of the research study, Do English mental health services know whether they followed NICE treatment recommendations for depression with patients who killed themselves, published in the scientific journal Psychology and Psychotherapy in July 2017, have on his policy; and what steps he plans to take as a result of its conclusions and recommendations of that report.

Jackie Doyle-Price: We have noted this research study and we expect mental health providers to implement guidelines for treatment issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). We published the updated National Suicide Prevention Strategy in January which set out how we are strengthening delivery of its aims, including reducing suicide in high risk groups such a people in contact with mental health services. We are investing an additional £25 million to implement the recommendations in the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health to reduce suicides. The Department is working with NHS England and Public Health England to agree the priorities for this funding. NICE is developing a suicide prevention guideline for community and custodial settings to be published next year which will set out further measures for organisations, including health care providers, to prevent suicide.

Prisons: Drugs

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what programmes his Department has operated in prisons for drug rehabilitation in each year since 2010 broken down by (a) budget, (b) number of male and female prisoners who used the programme and (c) location of prison.

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much has been spent by his Department on drug rehabilitation for (a) men and (b) women in prisons in (i) England and (ii) Wales in each year since 2010.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The information requested on what drug rehabilitation programmes are operated, the budget, number of prisoners using them and the location of the prison is either not collected centrally or not available in the format requested. NHS England estimates that it spends approximately 20% of all prison healthcare spending on substance misuse services. In the financial year 2016/17, NHS England allocated approximately £405 million for all health expenditure in the adult prison estate. Comparable data is not available prior to 2013/14 when NHS England became operational.

Visual Impairment: Diabetes

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many eye surgeries as a result of diabetic conditions have been performed by the NHS in the last 12 months.

Steve Brine: Data for the period requested is not yet available. NHS Digital has been able to provide the count of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) for July 2016 - June 2017 (inclusive) where the main procedure was eye surgery with a first secondary diagnosis field recorded as diabetes. This data is still provisional; therefore it may be incomplete or contain errors for which no adjustments have yet been made. Finalised data for the financial year 2016/17 will be available on 3 October 2017, and for the financial year 2017/18 the following year.PeriodFCEsJuly 2016 – June 201734,238Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), NHS DigitalActivity in English NHS hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector Notes: 1. Finished consultant episodes A finished consultant episode (FCE) is a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FCEs are counted against the year in which they end. Figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year.2. Secondary diagnosis As well as the primary diagnosis, there are up to 19 (13 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and six prior to 2002-03) secondary diagnosis fields in HES that show other diagnoses relevant to the episode of care. 3. Main procedure The first recorded procedure or intervention in each episode, usually the most resource intensive procedure or intervention performed during the episode. It is appropriate to use main procedure when looking at admission details, (e.g. time waited), but a more complete count of episodes with a particular procedure is obtained by looking at the main and the secondary procedures. 4. Assessing growth through time (Admitted Patient Care) HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data. Conversely, apparent increases in activity may be due to improved recording of diagnosis or procedure information. Note that HES include activity ending in the year in question and run from April to March, e.g. 2012-13 includes activity ending between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2013.

Department of Health: Brexit

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which EU legislation within his Department's responsibilities will (a) be incorporated into UK law through the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill and (b) require to be amended under powers in that Bill.

Mr Philip Dunne: The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, published on 13 July 2017, will ensure a smooth and orderly exit from the EU. It also ensures, so far as possible, that the same rules and laws will apply on the day after exit as on the day before. All Government Departments are currently reviewing the EU laws that apply in their policy areas and how withdrawal from the EU will affect the operation of those laws. There are decades of EU law to consider, and we are working to ensure that the statute book works on exit, fixing laws where necessary, and that the maximum possible certainty is provided for individuals and businesses as we leave the EU. The Department is fully engaged in this legislative process.

Autism: Medical Treatments

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on the practice of bleach enema as a treatment to cure autism; and if he will make a statement.

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations he has received on the practice of bleach enema as a treatment to cure autism.

Jackie Doyle-Price: There are no circumstances in which sodium chlorite or bleach, sometimes described as Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS), enemas should be used as a treatment to cure autism. We have been clear that MMS, or similar or related compounds, have no proven or conceivable health benefit and can cause serious damage to health, particularly in the case of children. Where there is any threat to the safety and wellbeing of a child, this may lead to offences of child cruelty being considered, requiring a wider safeguarding response involving the police, children's services and relevant partners. Such a threat could include any harm caused by the administration of a potentially noxious substance. Each case would be judged on its merits. The Department has received a limited amount of correspondence in relation to the use of bleach enemas as a treatment to cure autism.

Personal Injury: Liability

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to provide financial resources to GPs to meet the increase in indemnity costs as a result of the change to the discount rate on personal injury payouts.

Mr Philip Dunne: The cost of indemnity to general practitioners (GPs) is already recognised as a business expense, and reflected in the sums received by GP practices via the GP contract. In recognition of the rising costs of indemnity, NHS England put an extra £30 million in to the GP contract in March 2017 to cover indemnity-related inflation for GPs from 2016-17. A further sum of approximately £30 million will be made available for April 2018. The change in the personal injury discount rate announced by the then Lord Chancellor (Elizabeth Truss) in February 2017 has significantly increased the cost of claims. The Department is working closely with GPs and Medical Defence Organisations to ensure that appropriate funding is available to meet additional costs to GPs, recognising the crucial role they play in the delivery of National Health Service care.

Pregnancy: Mental Health Services

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the National Childbirth Trust on its Hidden Half campaign to improve diagnosis and treatment for post-natal mental illness.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Ministers have not yet met with representatives from the National Childbirth Trust, but we are aware of their Hidden Half campaign. This Government is committed to improving perinatal mental health services for women during pregnancy and in the first postnatal year, so that women are able to access the right care at the right time and close to home. A key element of NHS England’s £365 million perinatal mental health transformation programme is to increase awareness and skills across the workforce. The six week postnatal check is recommended by National Institute for Health and Care Exellence guidance on postnatal care and identified as a crucial element of post-natal care by NHS England’s National Maternity Review. This check should make an assessment of how a woman has made the transition to motherhood, including her mental health.

Blood: Contamination

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department held during the Parliamentary summer recess with victims and victims' groups on the contaminated blood inquiry.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department did not hold any discussions during Parliamentary summer recess with victims or victims' groups on the contaminated blood inquiry. Bishop James Jones, former Chair of the Hillsborough Independent Panel and Chair of the Gosport Independent Panel, had a telephone meeting with the All Party Parliamentary Group on Haemophilia and Contaminated Blood and a number of the campaign groups on 27 July. Following this meeting, the Bishop informed the Department of the request to remove the 18 August deadline for views on the format and scope of the upcoming independent inquiry. The Government has therefore decided to extend the deadline to 18 October 2017, to ensure that we hear as many opinions as possible.

Eating Disorders

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to introduce access and waiting time standards so that adults with an eating disorder receive NICE guideline-approved treatment within four weeks.

Jackie Doyle-Price: A pathway for adults with eating disorders, together with detailed implementation guidance for providers, will be developed by the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health in partnership with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence during 2017/18. This work will be fully informed by the available evidence and the views of experts by experience. In parallel to this, a baseline data collection will be undertaken to measure existing levels of investment, capacity and activity across inpatient and community services for adults with eating disorders to assess the feasibility of introducing a mandatory waiting time standard.

Physician Associates: Regulation

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 21 July 207 to Question HL969, when his Department plans to start the public consultation on the regulation of physician associates.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Department has developed proposals relating to the regulation of physician associates and remains committed to consulting on these in 2017.

Social Services: Pay

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to his written statement of 3 July 2017, HCWS24, whether the Care Quality Commission's local system reviews of health and social care in 12 local authority areas will include an assessment of whether the commissioning of care services is conducted in a manner that ensures that all services are compliant with the national living wage and national minimum wage.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has advised the Department of the following: The CQC’s local system reviews, exercised under the Secretary of State for Health’s Section 48 powers, commenced in August. The CQC is looking specifically at how people move between older people’s health and social care, including delayed transfers of care. It includes a review of commissioning across the interface and an assessment of the governance of resources. The review will not include a specific assessment on whether services are compliant with the national living wage and national minimum wage as this is outside the scope of the review. However, wider workforce issues in relation to commissioning best practice will be included in accordance with the CQC’s Key Lines of Enquiry.

Medicine: Overseas Students

Dr Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to prevent London medical schools from cross-subsidising the education of international students from their Service Increment for Teaching fund allocated to students from the UK and other EU countries.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Education and Training tariff guidance document for 2017-18 is clear that funding for placements commissioned by Health Education England (HEE) must not be used to subsidise any element of the cost of placements for non-National Health Service funded students/trainees. The responsibility for implementing these funding arrangements resides with HEE which commissions the placement activity from the provider.

Ambulance Services: Blackpool

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many times ambulances attended incidents on the A583 at or outside Cuadrilla Resources' shale gas site on that road in July 2017.

Mr Philip Dunne: We are advised by North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust that there were six occasions during July 2017 where ambulances attended incidents on the A583 at or outside Cuadrilla Resources' shale gas site.

Ambulance Services: Blackpool

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many times ambulances called to attended incidents on the A583 at or outside Cuadrilla Resources' shale gas site in July 2017 transferred patients for further treatment in hospital.

Mr Philip Dunne: We are advised by North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust that there were two occasions in July 2017 when ambulances called to attend incidents on the A583 at or outside Cuadrilla Resources’ shale gas site transferred patients for further treatment in hospital.

Accident and Emergency Departments: Mental Illness

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people with mental health issues were admitted to accident and emergency departments in (a) Kirklees, (b) West Yorkshire and (c) England in each of the last seven years.

Jackie Doyle-Price: This information is not held in the format requested.

Homosexuality

Christian Matheson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will proscribe the practice of conversion therapy in England.

Jackie Doyle-Price: This Government does not recognise so-called ‘gay conversion therapy’ as a legitimate treatment. A person's sexual orientation is not an illness to be cured. We have already worked with the main registration and accreditation bodies for psychotherapy and counselling practitioners, including the UK Council for Psychotherapy, to develop a Memorandum of Understanding to put a stop to this practice.We are not aware of widespread instances of gay conversion therapy happening in the United Kingdom, but we want to get a better idea of the extent to which it is being practised. That is why we included questions on this topic in our national LGBT survey, which was launched this summer. We will publish the survey results and our response in the new year.

Post Natal Depression: Mental Health Services

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will implement the recommendations of the National Childbirth Trust's report, The Hidden Half - bringing postnatal mental illness out of hiding, published in June 2017.

Jackie Doyle-Price: This Government remains committed to improving perinatal mental health services for women during pregnancy and in the first postnatal year, so that women are able to access the right care at the right time and close to home.General practitioners (GPs) are required to provide appropriate ongoing treatment and care to all their registered patients including advice in connection with the person’s health, relevant health promotion advice and referral for other services.Women should have a postnatal check with their GPs six-eight weeks after their baby’s birth to make sure they feel well and are recovering properly in terms of both their physical and mental health.

Eating Disorders

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to increase awareness of eating disorders.

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve the early identification of eating disorders in order to ensure that sufferers can access early intervention.

Jackie Doyle-Price: A pathway for adults with eating disorders, together with detailed implementation guidance for providers, will be developed by the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (NCCMH) in partnership with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence over 2017/18. For children, NHS England, along with the NCCMH, has already published the Access and Waiting Time Standard for Children and Young People with an Eating Disorder Commissioning Guide in 2015, which is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/mental-health/cyp/eating-disorders/

Mental Health Services

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to consult with (a) families, (b) carers and (c) those detained under current provision on the content of the proposed Mental Health Bill.

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the Mental Health Bill will be available for pre-legislative scrutiny.

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when the proposed Mental Health Bill will be published.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Queen’s Speech confirmed the Government’s intention to reform mental health legislation, including the Mental Health Act. Details will be published in due course.

Dental Services

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the importance of the data provided by the Adult Dental Health Survey to planning and commissioning oral health services; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when work on the next Adult Dental Health Survey is due to commence; and what the timetable is for the publication of that survey's results.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what level of funding has been allocated for the delivery of the next Adult Dental Health Survey.

Steve Brine: The Adult Dental Health Survey provides information on overall adult oral health status, oral health inequalities, oral health related quality of life and oral health behaviours in England which is available to both local authorities and National Health Servcie dental service commissioners. No decisions have been taken yet on the funding or timing of the next Adult Dental Health Survey.

Dental Services: Children and Young People

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many dental practices will be involved in the new oral health preventive programme, Starting Well.

Steve Brine: The number of dental practices that will be involved in the Starting Well Programme is yet to be determined. NHS England will be holding a number of launch events at the end of September and throughout October following which dental practices will be able to apply to participate in the programme. The final selection of practices will be made at local level following the launch events.

Hospital Wards: Children

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure equal access to overnight rooms or bed-space next to their child for parents saying overnight with their child in a paediatric ward and parents staying overnight with their baby in a neonatal unit.

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many neonatal units have the recommended amount of overnight parent accommodation to meet the standards outlined in the toolkit for high quality neonatal services; and what resources are provided to NHS trusts to increase the provision of overnight parent accommodation in places where that standard is not met.

Mr Philip Dunne: As part of a review into neonatal critical care, NHS England is currently in the process of collating information on the availability of parent accommodation in hospitals and neonatal units, as an important part of the service specification. Individual National Health Service providers are responsible for providing this service within the current contractual arrangements. NHS England are visiting every trust as part of the Quality Surveillance Team reviews. The Neonatal Critical Care Review is to make recommendations that will support the delivery of high quality, safe, sustainable and equitable models of neonatal care across England. It will be presenting a draft review report to NHS England in October 2017. The draft report will be then be consulted upon before being finalised. The Neonatal Critical Care Review has already set out a range of themes that are to be factored into Local Maternity Systems’ Transformation Plans.

Mental Health Services: Expenditure

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 6 September 2017 to Question 6837, in what format his Department holds information on spending on low and medium-secure inpatient mental health care since April 2013.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Each year NHS England centrally collects the costs of specialised services via their ten regional commissioning hubs, which includes spend for adult secure mental health services. Due to the nature of the way the data has been collected it is not possible to break the spend down into low and medium secure services for the years up to 2016/17. For reporting years 2013/14 to 2015/16 spend data on low and medium secure services was collected as part of the National Programme of Care data. It is not possible to break down figures because the overall totals for adult secure mental health services includes spend data for offender personality disorder, high secure and other services. From 2016/17 an additional level of detail was added so that spend can be broken down against offender personality disorder, high/medium/low and other services.

Self-harm: Accident and Emergency Departments

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 6 September 2017 to Question 6832, and with reference to the Answer of 14 November 2016 to Question 51972, whether the process for collection of data on the number of people who attended accident and emergency departments due to intentional self-harm has changed since the Answer of 14 November 2016.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The process for collection of data on attendances at accident and emergency departments due to intentional self-harm has not changed. The previous question did not concern the collection of data about attendances at accident and emergency departments due to intentional self-harm.

Mental Health Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of Mental Health Investment Standards letters have been signed and reported to his Department.

Jackie Doyle-Price: NHS England financial planning guidance for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) includes the Mental Health Investment Standard (MHIS). As part of the planning process, CCGs consult with their main providers (including mental health providers). CCG plans are submitted to NHS England (rather than directly to the Department). Plans for 2016/17 show that 177 out of 209 CCGs met the MHIS standard.

Health Centres: Medical Equipment

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to encourage the provision of hoists in health centres to help transfer patients to examination beds.

Steve Brine: General practitioner practices are required to comply with the provisions in the Equality Act 2010 – including the requirement to make reasonable adjustments. Wherever possible, we would expect health centres to take into account the needs of their patients, and make reasonable adjustments for those individuals who have restricted mobility and may need assistance with movement during an examination.

Mental Health Services: Children in Care

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many looked after children (a) had an initial mental health screening and (b) are awaiting further assessments or treatment in each of the last 12 months.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Dental Services: Children

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) pre-school, (b) primary and (c) secondary age children have undergone the dental removal of one or more teeth in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Steve Brine: Data is not held in the format requested.

Dental Services: Children

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost was to the public purse of removing one or more teeth from children in each of the last three years.

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost per child is of the dental removal of one or more teeth.

Steve Brine: Information is not held in the format requested.

Neuromuscular Disorders

John McNally: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase the number of neuromuscular care advisors for people with muscle-wasting conditions.

Steve Brine: NHS England is responsible for commissioning specialised neurological services, including some services for patients with neuromuscular disorders. NHS England has published a service specification for neurological care that includes an exemplar service specification for neuromuscular conditions which sets out what providers must have in place to offer evidence-based, safe and effective services. The service specification for neurological care can be found at the following link:www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/d04-neurosci-spec-neuro.pdfNHS providers, working with local area teams, may establish patient access to neuromuscular care advisers if they consider it would benefit service provision and such decisions are a local matter.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Energy: Meters

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what representations he has received on including obligations to remove and recycle legacy gas and electric meters which were replaced during the Smart Energy roll-out on energy companies as part of the Smart Energy Code.

Richard Harrington: The Department has not received any representations to amend the Smart Energy Code to include obligations with regards to the removal and recycle of legacy meters.

Energy: Meters

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential export market available to UK firms who refurbish gas and electric meters that are no longer required in the UK because of smart meter roll-out; and what steps his Department is taking to help develop that market.

Richard Harrington: No assessment has been made. We understand that some Meter Asset Providers (MAPs) are making refurbished meters available to countries who at present do not intend to install smart meters.The roll-out of smart meters is an important national modernisation programme that will bring major benefits to consumers and the nation as a whole. Domestic customers will be offered an In-Home Display (IHD) enabling them to see what energy they are using and how much it is costing. Smart meters will also bring an end to estimated billing, transform the prepayment experience, and in time make switching energy suppliers easier and faster.

Business: Pay

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Government's paper, Corporate Governance Reform, published on 29 August 2017, whether the publication of pay multiples will apply solely to the CEO of a company.

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Government's paper, Corporate Governance Reform, published on 29 August 2017, whether annual pay ratio reporting will require the reporting of exact pay and remuneration.

Margot James: Holding answer received on 07 September 2017



Work is underway to bring forward legislative proposals for pay ratio reporting as soon as possible. The pay ratio reporting requirement is intended to apply to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company and to be determined by reference to the single figure for total remuneration receivable by the CEO that quoted companies are required to disclose annually (along with the pay of other directors).

Business: Pay

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to page 20 of the Government's paper Corporate Governance Reform published on 29 August 2017, when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to require quoted companies to report the ratio of CEO pay to the average pay of their UK workforce.

Margot James: I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave to Questions UIN 8198 and 8199.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Trade Unions

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Government's paper Corporate Governance Reform published on 29 August 2017, how many meetings he or ministers of his Department had with representative of trade unions during the preparation of that paper.

Margot James: The Government is committed to strengthening the worker voice in the boardroom. My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State had one meeting specifically on the subject of corporate governance with trade union representatives at a roundtable event held in the Department on 6 February 2017. In addition, the Secretary of State and his Ministerial team met regularly with representatives of the trade unions during the preparation of the paper. This included a Trade Unions Congress chaired roundtable on the Industrial Strategy, attended by the heads of the six main unions, on 18 April 2017 where Corporate Governance was discussed.

Business: Pay

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Government's paper Corporate Governance Reform published on 29 August 2017, for what reason the Financial Conduct Authority will not maintain a register of listed companies that experienced shareholder opposition to pay awards.

Margot James: I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 8196.

Manufacturing Advisory Service: Stafford

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many businesses the Manufacturing Advisory Service has assisted in Stafford constituency since May 2015.

Claire Perry: A study carried out by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills found that 13% of all projects funded by the government’s Manufacturing Advisory Service between (2012 - 2016) were located in the West Midlands, however the service was closed in (March) 2016. However, figures are not broken down to specific areas or towns.

Furniture: Safety

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of (a) the adequacy of and (b) compliance with the fire safety standards of furniture products in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Margot James: The fire safety requirements currently in place for upholstered furniture and furnishings used in UK homes are being reviewed to ensure they reflect changed fire safety risks, risks associated with exposure to flame retardant chemicals and technological advances. In doing so, public protection remains the Government’s priority.We have consulted on proposals for reform and are reviewing options in light of the stakeholder responses received and in light of the Grenfell Tower Fire. We will publish the Government response in due course.Local authority trading standards are responsible for checking compliance with and enforcement of the requirements.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Brexit

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which EU legislation within his Department's responsibilities will (a) be incorporated into UK law through the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill and (b) require to be amended under powers in that Bill.

Margot James: The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill will convert European Union law into UK law as it applies in the UK at the moment of exit. This will ensure that, wherever possible, the same rules and laws will apply the day after exit as they did before.The Government’s current estimate is that we will need to make between 800 and 1,000 statutory instruments to make exit a reality in UK law.

Courier Services: Regulation

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department takes to regulate and monitor courier companies in the UK.

Margot James: Ofcom is the independent regulator with responsibility for postal services, including courier companies.

Carbon Emissions: Housing

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to improve the carbon efficiency of homes.

Claire Perry: The Energy Company Obligation, worth £640m per year to 2022, has helped improve the energy efficiency of over 1.6 million homes since 2013. We are also introducing new regulations that will require that all new private rental tenancies from April 2018 must meet a minimum energy efficiency of EPC Band E.Furthermore, the domestic RHI offers support for a range of technologies and fuel uses such as solid biomass, heat pumps, and solar thermal and, at the end of July 2017, 57,203 installations had been accredited.Our Clean Growth Strategy will set out further proposals for reducing carbon emissions.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many procurements undertaken by his Department have taken more than (a) three months, (b) six months, (c) one year and (d) two years.

Margot James: We do not keep records of the duration of procurement for those managed directly by the department. For those procurements managed by our shared service provider UKSBS, the number of procurements at those durations, undertaken by BEIS since April 2015 is as follows:DurationVolume(a) 3 months13(b) 6 months6(c) 1 year1(d) 2 years0

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much his Department has paid in letting fees for its estate in each year since 2010.

Margot James: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy estates management records system was created in 2012.There is no record of letting fees being paid to agents since that date.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much his Department has received from sub-lets on its estate in each year since 2010.

Margot James: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy estates management records system was created in 2012. Rental income from its estate since then is as follows:YearRental Income2012/2013£9,975,567.282013/2014£11,992,752.402014/2015£20,873,669.592015/2016£16,889,083.942016/2017£22,404,118.73

Small Businesses: Northamptonshire

Mr Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many small businesses are registered in Northamptonshire; how many such businesses were registered in Northamptonshire in 2010; and what assessment he has made of the health of the local business environment in that county.

Margot James: Northamptonshire has 30,665 registered small/micro private sector businesses with fewer than 50 employees in 2016, compared to 24,175 in 2010 (ONS).Velocity Growth Hub, through its Northamptonshire spoke, supported 1385 businesses in 2016/17 to start and grow.The Midland Engine Investment Fund provides access to finance for businesses, accelerating economic growth and job creation.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Behavioural Insights Team

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much his Department paid to the Behavioural Insights Team in each year since 2014.

Margot James: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has only existed since July 2016. Therefore, this response includes the amounts paid to the Behavioural Insights Team by the two former Departments: Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), and Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Since 2014, our best estimate of what BEIS, BIS and DECC paid the Behavioural Insights Team was a total of £3,665,802.84. The total amount paid per year is provided below. 2014: £362,403.002015: £1,451,576.242016: £1,285,063.602017 (as of 08/09/2017): £566,760.00 Included in these figures is spend on skills projects. This may also be included in Department for Education’s (DfE) spend as some of former BIS’s policy areas moved to DfE in July 2016.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Sign Language

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department takes to provide (a) information on its services in British Sign Language (BSL) and (b) correspondence in BSL to people whose principal language is BSL.

Margot James: We endeavour to communicate in the best way for our audience. Documents are available in large print, audio and braille.

Modern Working Practices Review

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government plans to take as a result of the publication of the Taylor Review of modern working practices, published on 11 July 2017.

Margot James: We welcome, accept and agree with Matthew’s ambition that all work in the UK economy should be fair and decent with realistic scope for development and fulfilment.The report is comprehensive and detailed and will require careful thought and further consultation.We will give the report the careful consideration it deserves and respond in full later this year.

Companies: Ownership

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much has accrued to the public purse from fines and penalties from companies failing to report their Persons of Significant Control in the last 12 months.

Margot James: No fines or penalties have accrued to the public purse from companies failing to report their persons of significant control in the last twelve-months. Given the evidence required to take forward a prosecution, we would not anticipate any cases going to court until later in 2018.

Companies: Ownership

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many companies have not met the most recent Persons of Significant Control reporting deadline.

Margot James: Companies House’s internal statistics indicate that 130,000 companies on its active register (around 3% of the total) have not yet provided People with Significant Control information. Companies House is taking action is underway to secure compliance.

Metals: Recycling

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to support metal-recycling companies.

Claire Perry: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Holidays: Pay

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what representations the Government has received from (a) employment agencies and (b) agency workers on holiday payments.

Margot James: The Department is not aware of any representations from employment agencies specifically about holiday payments. Representations have been received from a small number of agency workers concerning non-payment or calculation of holiday pay.

Self-employed: Average Earnings

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to raise wages for the self-employed.

Margot James: Many people choose to be self-employed because of the greater autonomy it gives them over when they work and what work they do. In February 2016 the Department of Business Innovation and Skills published research on self-employment. This showed that 84% of self-employed people thought their life overall was better in self-employment, compared with being an employee, and over half believed they were better off financially. The Matthew Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices looked at ways to ensure that the regulatory framework surrounding employment, and the support Government provides to businesses and workers, were keeping pace with changes in the labour market and the economy, including the rise in self-employment. This Government will give the report the careful consideration it deserves and will respond in full later this year.

Electrical Safety: Fires

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on the potential correlation between periods of high electricity usage and electrical fires in the home.

Margot James: Consumer safety is a priority for the Department and we are taking steps to further improve the safety of white goods and the recalls system. The Department is in regular contact with the Home Office on a range of issues related to fire safety.

Employment: Childbirth

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the timetable is for publication of ACAS guidelines for employers whose employees have a baby born premature or sick; and what plans his Department has to ensure that those guidelines are (a) implemented and (b) evaluated.

Margot James: The Government is committed to supporting working parents of premature babies and giving their employers the tools that they need to deal with requests for additional time off work and flexible working arrangements.The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) published comprehensive guidance for employers on 5 September 2017 to help employers support staff with premature or sick babies. The guidance covers topics from offering financial support to parents paying extra childcare costs to the statutory pay and leave to which employees may be entitled.We believe that this will help working families to understand the options available to them, as well as enabling employers to provide the best possible support to their staff at this difficult and stressful time. We will keep this under review.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Behavioural Insights Team

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what services his Department and former constituent departments have received from the Behavioural Insights Team since 2014.

Margot James: The services that the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and the former departments of Business, Innovation and Skills, and Energy and Climate Change have received from the Behavioural Insights Team since 2014 are listed below. The design, implementation, and analysis of randomised control trials.Literature and evidence reviews.Policy advice.Workshops.Qualitative research, such as interviews and focus groups.Quantitative research.

Energy

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government plans for the UK to remain in the internal energy market after the UK leaves the EU.

Richard Harrington: The Government is currently considering all aspects of its future relationship with the EU, including the arrangements for trading energy. As my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State has told the House there are great advantages in having continued access to free markets. Energy is an area in which there is strong alignment of interests between the UK and EU. Our priority is maintaining affordable, clean and secure energy supplies for businesses and households.

Industry: Productivity

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, to ask the Secretary of State what steps he is taking to improve productivity as part of the Industrial Strategy

Greg Clark: Our Industrial Strategy’s aim is to boost earning power and productivity across the country. We will build on the UK’s world class expertise in industries such as the automotive sector in the North East, underpinned by Nissan in Sunderland, one of Europe’s most productive plants.

Productivity: Training

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he has taken to develop skills and technical education to encourage productivity growth.

Joseph Johnson: My hon. Friend will know that, at its heart, our modern Industrial Strategy will be about ensuring everyone has the opportunity to improve their skills, particularly through reforming technical education. Investing in skills and ensuring people have the right information to make choices on their career options in all parts of the country, is one of the most powerful things we can do to boost individual earning power and business productivity.

Carbon Emissions

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, to ask the Secretary of State what assessment he has made of the UK's ability to meet its carbon reduction targets.

Claire Perry: We should be proud of how we lead the world in tackling climate change – cutting emissions by over a third while growing the economy by two thirds since 1990. We over-achieved the first carbon budget and are making good progress to meet the second and third. We are looking to say more in The Clean Growth Strategy which will set out our future plans, building on the impressive progress to date.

Carbon Emissions

Ms Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, to ask the Seceretary of State what the reasons are for the time taken to publish the carbon reduction plan.

Claire Perry: The Clean Growth Strategy is a vital part of the UK’s future. We are taking the time to get it right. We are working to ensure that it is as ambitious and robust as possible, so that we can both deliver on our emissions targets and seize the economic opportunities from clean growth. We will publish the Strategy shortly.

Carbon Emissions

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, to ask the Secretary of State what assessment he has made of the UK's ability to meet its carbon reduction targets.

Claire Perry: We should be proud of how we lead the world in tackling climate change – cutting emissions by over a third while growing the economy by two thirds since 1990. We over-achieved the first carbon budget and are making good progress to meet the second and third. We are looking to say more in The Clean Growth Strategy which will set out our future plans, building on the impressive progress to date.

Ministry of Defence

Defence and Cyber Innovation Fund

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much of the £165 million Defence and Cyber Innovation Fund has been allocated to support innovative procurement in defence and security; and to what use that money has been put.

Harriett Baldwin: £10 million out of the £155 million is available in this financial year to the Defence Innovation Fund, to support innovative procurement across Defence. The Fund is harnessing the best ideas from inside and outside of Defence through activities such as themed competitions and the Open Call for Innovation, delivered using the Defence and Security Accelerator, available at the following link:www.gov.uk/government/organisations.defence-and-security-acceleratorThe Government also allocated £10 million to establish a Cyber Innovation Fund. This supports the UK's national security requirements by providing innovative start-ups with financial and procurement support.

RAF St Athan

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to make a final decision on the relocation of (a) 614 RAF Auxiliary Squadron, (b) University of Wales Air Squadron, (c) 2300 Air Cadets Squadron, (d) Regional Rehabilitation Unit for Wales and the Midlands and (e) the Band of the Prince of Wales; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: There are currently no plans to relocate any of the units listed.

RAF St Athan

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2017 to Question 275, on RAF St Athan, when he plans to publish the impact assessment of (a) 614 RAF Auxiliary Squadron, (b) University of Wales Air Squadron, (c) 2300 Air Cadets Squadron, (d) Regional Rehabilitation Unit for Wales and the Midlands and (e) the Band of the Prince of Wales; and if he will place a copy of that impact assessment in the Library.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: As part of ongoing assessment work, the impact of the potential move of 4 School of Technical Training on other units is being assessed. However, this assessment work forms part of the wider considerations around the move. At this stage it is too early to say when it will be completed or whether elements of the information contained in these considerations may preclude them being published.

RAF St Athan

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has conducted an assessment of the potential effect of the relocation of No. 4 School of Technical Training at St Athan to RAF Cosford on the local economy; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: No assessment has been made of the potential impact of the relocation of No 4 School of Technical Training from Ministry of Defence (MOD) St Athan to RAF Cosford on the local economy. However, the MOD is sensitive to the potential impact of the move and will engage with the local authorities for both MOD St Athan and RAF Cosford once plans are sufficiently mature.

RAF St Athan

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2017 to Question 275, on RAF St Athan, which organisations will be consulted as part of the impact assessment on the relocation of (a) 614 RAF Auxiliary Squadron, (b) University of Wales Air Squadron, (c) 2300 Air Cadets Squadron, (d) Regional Rehabilitation Unit for Wales and the Midlands and (e) the Band of the Prince of Wales; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: There are currently no plans to relocate any of the units listed.

Aircraft Carriers; Military Aircraft

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many aircraft are currently in service on the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier.

Harriett Baldwin: HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH is not yet in service; although Royal Navy Merlin helicopters provided support to the first phase of her sea trials.We have taken delivery of 11 F-35B aircraft, which are currenetly stationed in the US for training. We will have taken delivery of 14 F-35B aircraft by the end of the year.On current plans, following her entry to service, HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH will commence flying trials in 2018, building towards a carrier strike capability from the end of 2020. In this role, our Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carriers will have the capacity to operate F35-B Lightning II aircraft, with associated Rotary Wing force protection and support.

Deepcut Barracks

Douglas Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps were taken to implement the recommendation set out in para 2.23 of the 2006 Deepcut Review.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 25 July 2017 to Question 5495.



5495 - WQnA extract on Deepcut Barracks
(Word Document, 15 KB)

Monuments: Occupied Territories

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will establish a permanent memorial to British servicemen and women who lost their lives in Palestine during the lead-up to Israel's independence.

Mark Lancaster: The National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas, Staffordshire, already hosts a memorial to those British Service personnel who served in Palestine, erected by the Palestine Veterans' Association in 2001. The Government has no plans to create a further memorial at any other location.

Army: Gender

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many new Army recruits who joined the Army since January 2017 were (a) male and (b) female.

Mark Lancaster: The table below shows the number of Army recruits from 1 January 2017 to 30 June 2017 broken down by gender:  RegularRegular  OfficerOther RankReserve FR20Male3403,080940Female40310190 Notes The figures are for Regular Army and FR20 Reserves and therefore exclude Gurkhas and Non-FR20 Reserve Populations. The FR20 population consists of Group A Army Reserves, some Sponsored Reserves and those personnel serving on Full Time Reserve Service (FTRS) contracts who were previously Army Reservists. Rounding: Figures have been rounded to 10 to limit disclosure; numbers ending in ‘5’ have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. Totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and so may not appear to be the sum of their parts.

Armed Forces: Recruitment

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 18 July 2017 to Question 4377, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the Abertillery Reserve Centre on recruitment to the armed forces.

Mark Lancaster: Recruitment to the Armed Forces can be strengthened by Reserve units and their links to local communities. 211 (South Wales) Battery Royal Artillery, based at Abertillery Reserve Centre is a well-attended sub-unit with the majority of personnel regularly parading.

Navy: Training

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to deploy Royal Navy ships to the Black Sea for training exercises.

Mark Lancaster: The Royal Navy regularly deploys as part of national, bi-lateral, and multi-national training exercises all over the world, including the Black Sea. We do not disclose the detail of specific future exercises, operations or engagements as this would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

Ministry of Defence: Expenditure

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the value was of his Department's spend with UK industry in each of the last five years.

Harriett Baldwin: We collect data on the Ministry of Defence’s direct expenditure with UK Industry and commerce. This is published in the “Finance and economics annual statistical bulletin” at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/mod-regional-expenditure-with-uk-industry-and-supported-employment-index. Data for the last three years is below: Financial Year£million (current prices)2013-1418,8722014-1519,1632015-1618,745 Published data for financial years 2011-12 and 2012-13 used an older methodology, which included some direct expenditure that took place outside the UK. These figures, given below, are therefore not directly comparable to those in more recent years. Financial Year£million (current prices)2011-1219,6502012-1319,610

Veterans: Charities

Ross Thomson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what financial support is currently available for veterans charities to apply for.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The £10 million per annum Covenant Fund makes grants to support the Armed Forces community and has funded projects across the UK to improve support and introduce new services to help veterans.

Armed Forces: Scotland

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many regular armed forces personnel were based in Scotland in each year since 2010.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence publishes UK Regular strengths by stationed location in our Quarterly Location Statistics:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/location-of-all-uk-regular-service-and-civilian-personnel-quarterly-statistics-index

Yemen: Military Intervention

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many allegations of humanitarian law violations by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen his Department is investigating.

Sir Michael Fallon: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has monitored alleged International Humanitarian Law (IHL) violations arising from airstrikes reportedly conducted by the Saudi-led Coalition in Yemen since March 2015. To date, the MOD has monitored 293 such incidents. The Saudi-led Coalition is best placed to investigate alleged IHL violations. It has publicly stated that it is doing so and that lessons will be acted upon.

Veterans: Charities

Ross Thomson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what representations his Department has received on the closure of the Veteran's First Point charity service in the Grampian region; and if he will make representations to the Scottish Government to encourage it to fund that service.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Veterans First Point (V1P) was established in 2013 to work with local NHS partnerships to provide a range of mental health support, information and signposting. The closure of V1P Grampian, including its funding, is a matter for V1P, the Scottish Government and NHS Grampian rather than the Ministry of Defence.

Ministry of Defence: Assets

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, in which of the last 10 years his Department has submitted a strategic asset management plan to the Government Property Unit.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Department has not submitted a Strategic Asset Management Plan in any of the last ten years.The Government Property Unit (GPU) re-commissioned Strategic Asset Management Plans in 2014. From 2014 to 2016 the Ministry of Defence (MOD) was working on the Better Defence Estate Strategy announced in November 2016. It was agreed with the GPU that the MOD was not in a position to compile a Strategic Asset Management Plan until this work had been completed.A Strategic Asset Management Plan will be submitted in 2017.

Ministry of Defence: Secondment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many applications his Department has received for (a) internal loans and (b) secondments from civil servants in each year since 2010.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Ministry of Defence: Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether requests for consultancy and temporary staff for the his Department must be accompanied by a formal business case.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of requests for consultancy and temporary staff for his Department were approved via a resource board.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) delegates authority to approve the use of consultants and temporary staff to each Top Level Budget (TLB) holder. Information on the process employed in each TLB is not held centrally. However, where the MOD does contract for private-sector support, it must be fully justifiable and provide value for money to the taxpayer.

Ministry of Defence: Consultants

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of consultancy assignments procured by his Department are paid at a daily rate.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: All consultancy contracts awarded through the Crown Commercial Services framework which are currently live are priced on a time and materials basis, and the time component will be against agreed rates. The contract payments will typically be against completion of contract milestones.

Ministry of Defence: Cybercrime

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the principle set out in paragraph 5.3.6 of the Government's Cyber Security Strategy that everyone who works in government has a sound awareness of cyber risk applies to members of staff employed by contractors doing work procured by his Department.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: All contractors who perform work for the Ministry of Defence (MOD) are expected to adhere to relevant policies and procedures in relation to cyber security. This requirement is implemented through legal-standard contractual procedures such as the MOD Procurement Policy Note (09/14) which makes it a mandatory requirement for suppliers of certain contracts to hold Cyber Essentials certification. In 2016, the MOD and Industry agreed to the Defence Conditions (DEFCON) 658 in order to enforce the Cyber Security Model to all new contracts, and, as of 1 October 2017 this shall be further applied to contracts down the supply chain. This thereby allows Defence to mandate cyber security across our supply chain to ensure all staff are meeting this required criteria.

Ministry of Defence: Redundancy Pay

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 6 July 2017 to Question 3361 on redundancy payments to armed forces staff in 2015-16, how much was paid to (a) men and (b) women.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 6 July 2017 to Question 3361, on redundancy, how much of the £9,776,731 paid in redundancy payments to armed forces staff in 2016-17 was paid to (a) men and (b) women.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The financial figures quoted in each of the questions are the total staff costs as published in the Ministry of Defence (MOD) Annual Report and Accounts 2016-17 in £000's, and include salaries and wages, social security, pensions, and severance, as well as redundancy payments.Of the £12,533 paid in redundancy and severance payments to both Armed Forces and civilian personnel set out in the MOD Annual Report and Accounts 2016-17; £402 was paid to male Armed Forces personnel. No payments were made to female Armed Forces personnel.Of the £44,133 paid in redundancy and severance payments to both Armed Forces and civilian personnel set out in the MOD Annual Report and Accounts 2016-17, for the year 2015-16; £9,713 was paid to male Armed Forces personnel and £1,395 was paid to female Armed Forces personnel.In line with department policy, values have been rounded to the nearest £000.

Ministry of Defence: Redundancy Pay

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 6 July 2017 to Question 3361 on redundancy, how much of the £2,292,990 paid in redundancy payments to civilian staff in 2015-16 was paid to (a) men and (b) women.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 6 July 2017 to Question 3361 on redundancy, how much of the £2,401,725 paid in redundancy payments to civilian staff in 2016-17 was paid to (a) men and (b) women.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The information is not held in the format requested.The financial figures quoted in each of the questions do not relate solely to redundancy but to the total staff costs comprising of salaries and wages, social security, pensions, redundancy and severance.

Air Force: Cadets

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of air cadets have completed courses in gliding in each of the last five years; how many air cadets have completed gliding courses in each of the volunteer gliding squadrons since 2014; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many instructors qualified to conduct gliding lessons through the Volunteer Gliding Squadrons have been available to offer lessons in each of the last five years.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The numbers of cadets that have completed gliding courses and been awarded wings in each of the last five years are as follows:2013 - 11,7482014 - 1,7052015 - 532016 - 1422017 - 741In 2013 and 2014 these courses were across all Volunteer Gliding Squadrons (VGS). In 2015 and 2016 these were with Central Gliding School (CGS) Syerston. In 2017 in addition to CGS, these also include courses with the three VGS that have returned to flight, 637VGS at Little Rissington, 644VGS at Syerston and 635VGS at Topcliffe.Prior to the gliding pause, which commenced in Apr 2014, there were circa 560 qualified gliding instructors spread over the VGS. Many of these gliding instructors are undertaking ground duties while awaiting completion of their 'return to flying' package. This includes instructing groundschool topics and on the Part Task Trainers which are our ground based simulators.61 instructors have now completed their 'return to flying' package and regained their gliding instructional qualifications to deliver airborne training to cadets.

Air Force: Cadets

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many young people have (a) joined and (b) left the air cadets in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We do not record the numbers of Air Cadets that join or leave per year. However, we publish statistics on the total number of air cadets in both the Air Training Corps and Combined Cadet Force (RAF) sections. For the last five years the total number of cadets in both organisations combined is as follows:2017 - 39,0202016 - 40,7502015 - 41,4302014 - 42,2802013 - 42,920

Army: Recruitment

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people have applied to join the Army who are aged between 16 and 24 since the commencement of the This is Belonging campaign.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The table below shows the number of Army applicants between 1 January (the start of the ‘This is Belonging’ campaign) and 31 August 2017 aged between 16 and 24 on application.  RegularRegualrReserveReserve OfficerSoldierOfficerSoldierAged 16-24 years5,28035,1601,85013,730 Notes This question has been answered using information held in recruiting data. Figures provided are a single service estimate and are not official statistics. An applicant has been defined as someone who has applied and their data has been loaded onto the recruitment database. Reserves figures are for Group A Reserves. These are Reserves who are recruited through the National Recruiting Centre and are available for employment on specific tasks at home and overseas. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Numbers ending in five have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.

Army: Recruitment

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons the This is Belonging campaign by the Army was specifically marketed to 16 to 24-year olds in low socio-economic groups.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons the cities of Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, Belfast and Cardiff were up-weighted in the marketing of the This is Belonging campaign by the Army.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces (Mr Lancaster) on 5 September 2017 to Questions 6675 and 6676.



6675 - WQnA extract on Army Recruitment
(Word Document, 12.88 KB)

Army: Recruitment

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) men and (b) women have applied to join the Army since the commencement of the This is Belonging campaign.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The table below shows the number of Army applicants between 1 January (the start of the ‘This is Belonging’ campaign) and 31 August 2017 broken down by gender.  RegularRegularReserveReserve OfficerSoldierOfficerSoldierMale6,84039,7103,24022,050Female2,6008,3501,3806,400 Notes This question has been answered using information held in recruiting data. Figures provided are a single service estimate and are not official statistics. An applicant has been defined as someone who has applied and their data has been loaded onto the recruitment database. Reserves figures are for Group A Reserves. These are Reserves who are recruited through the National Recruiting Centre and are available for employment on specific tasks at home and overseas. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Numbers ending in five have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.

Army: Recruitment

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people who have applied to join the Army since the commencement of the This is Belonging campaign have completed A-levels.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people who have applied to join the Army since the commencement of the This is Belonging campaign have completed university degrees.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The tables below show the number of applicants between 1 January (the start of the ‘This is Belonging’ campaign) and 31 August 2017 with a recorded degree level qualification or A levels. Applicants with A levels and degree level qualifications may show in both tables. Applicants with Recorded Degree level qualificationsRegularReserveOfficerSoldierOfficerSoldier2,4608101,9401,720 Applicants with Recorded A LevelsRegularReserveOfficerSoldierOfficerSoldier3,110~2,02010 Education qualifications are not captured unless they are required as a Mandatory Academic Qualification for the role or declared by the candidate as additional information. The actual number of individuals holding qualifications will therefore be higher.

Ministry of Defence: Brexit

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which EU legislation within his Department's responsibilities will (a) be incorporated into UK law through the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill and (b) require to be amended under powers in that Bill.

Mark Lancaster: The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill will convert European Union law into UK law as it applies in the UK at the moment of exit. This will ensure that, wherever possible, the same rules and laws will apply the day after exit as they did before.The Government is still making a detailed assessment of what corrections will be required to make that law function appropriately on exit day. The Government's current estimate is that we will need to make between 800 and 1,000 statutory instruments to make exit a reality in UK law.The only EU-derived domestic legislation within the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence which will continue to have effect through clause 2 of the Bill and require to be amended under powers in that Bill are the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 (SI 2011/1848).

Iraq: Arms Trade

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department takes to ensure that weapons sold to or gifted to Iraq reach their designated destination and end user.

Harriett Baldwin: All exports of controlled military equipment and dual-use equipment are assessed against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. Similarly, Government proposals to gift controlled military equipment and dual-use equipment are also assessed against the Consolidated Criteria, with the same degree of rigour.The Consolidated Criteria provide a thorough risk assessment framework, which requires us to think hard about the impact of providing equipment. Under Criterion 7, we would not grant an export licence, or gift equipment, if there was an unacceptable risk that the items would be diverted within the destination country or re-exported under undesirable conditions.

Ministry of Defence: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many procurements undertaken by his Department have taken more than (a) three months, (b) six months, (c) one year and (d) two years.

Harriett Baldwin: The Ministry of Defence awards a significant number of contracts each year of varying duration. Detailed information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.Information on the proportion of new contracts placed by the Ministry of Defence in each of the last five years can be accessed at Table 7 of the excel tables published in the Trade Industry & Contracts Statistical Bulletin, which can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-trade-industry-and-contracts-2017

Frigates

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the proportion of UK steel which will be used to produce the five new frigates announced on 6 September 2017.

Harriett Baldwin: A competition to design and build the Type 31e General Purpose Frigate in the UK was announced on 7 September 2017. It is therefore too soon to say who the successful supplier(s) will be. The responsibility for steel procurement on major shipbuilding programmes will lie with our prime contractor(s), who take into account cost, time and quality.However, as part of our support for British steel manufacturers, new public procurement policy guidelines have been introduced, and UK steel suppliers will be strongly encouraged to bid in line with these. Going forward, the Ministry of Defence will continue to carry out early market engagement and forecast our steel requirements for shipbuilding through the publication of the UK Government Steel Pipeline.

Navy: Guided Weapons

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the missile defence capabilities of the Royal Navy in light of the recent advances in the development of hypersonic missiles by Russia.

Harriett Baldwin: The Royal Navy (RN) continually assess their defensive capabilities against all potential threats.We do not comment on the specific force protection measures employed by the RN as disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

Department for Communities and Local Government

Social Rented Housing: Insulation

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many social housing properties are fitted with the same cladding used at Grenfell Tower.

Alok Sharma: We cannot comment on the cladding used at Grenfell Tower which is a matter for the police investigation. On 5 September, the Government published consolidated advice for building owners following large-scale testing which can be viewed here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-safety-programme-update-and-consolidated-advice-for-building-owners-following-large-scale-testing This shows that there were 173 high-rise social housing buildings in England with Aluminium Composite Material, 165 of which have cladding systems which the Expert Panel advise are unlikely to meet current Building Regulations guidance and therefore present fire hazards on buildings over 18 metres.

Homelessness: Employment Schemes

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to support homeless people into employment.

Mr Marcus Jones: This Government remains committed to ensuring people always have a roof over their heads. We recognise that employment and social enterprise opportunities are key factors to help people avoid homelessness and secure a sustainable place to live and build personal resilience. That is why we have embarked on an ambitious programme, working with local areas and across government, to fundamentally reform the response to homelessness – putting prevention at the heart of this approach.Part of this is our £50 million Homelessness Prevention Programme which will deliver an end-to-end approach to prevention across 84 projects working in 205 district and unitary local authorities in England. Some projects are actively supporting households into work in order to reduce the risk of them becoming homeless.We have also invested £15 million to improve outcomes for young people through the Fair Chance Fund. This funding is turning around the lives of around 1,900 18 to 25 year olds with complex and overlapping needs, by supporting them into training, employment, accommodation and education.

Non-domestic Rates: Valuation

Meg Hillier: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 18 July 2017 to Question 900568, what compensation is available for businesses that win at appeal but have suffered losses between the original valuation and appeal.

Meg Hillier: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 18 July 2017 to Question 900568, what support is available to businesses that have had their property incorrectly valued by the Valuation Office Agency.

Mr Marcus Jones: Where the valuation of a non-domestic property is altered following a successful appeal, the ratepayer will generally receive a backdated refund. Local authorities also have wide-ranging powers to provide discretionary rate relief to businesses in their area, including where a business is experiencing significant financial hardship. From April 2017, the Government introduced reforms to the appeals system to help reduce the delays caused by large numbers of speculative appeals.

Non-domestic Rates

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2017 to Question 5261, when the Government plans to make a decision on how best to continue to engage the Local Government Association, the steering and working groups and the local government sector more generally.

Mr Marcus Jones: The Government is committed to collaborating with the local government sector in developing the future direction of local government finance reform. Dialogue between the Local Government Association and the Government is ongoing and I have recently written to the Chair of the Local Government Association proposing that the steering and working groups continue to work with the Government.

Parking: Private Sector

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to tackle the practices of rogue private parking operators.

Mr Marcus Jones: We have already taken steps to tackle unfair practices by private parking operators, including the banning of wheel clamping and towing.My Department is also considering reforms of the private parking sector and we are keen to ensure motorists get fair treatment from private parking companies.We welcome the Rt Hon Sir Greg Knight’s Private Member's Bill that seeks to create an independent code of practice for private parking companies. We look forward to reading Sir Greg’s recommendations.

Planning Permission: Northumberland

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many planning appeals from Northumberland have been heard by Ministers since 2010.

Alok Sharma: In the period 1 January 2010 to 30 June 2017, 275 appeals were decided for the unitary authority Northumberland County Council and a further 8 for the Northumberland National Park Authority (NPA). All those for the NPA were decided by Inspectors under delegated powers. 9 of the 275 for the unitary authority were decided by the Secretary of State, with the remainder by Inspectors under delegated powers.

High Rise Flats: Fire Prevention

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2017 to Question 4915, on Grenfell Tower: Fires, what the cost of initial testing of samples of cladding material after the Grenfell Tower fire was.

Alok Sharma: The initial screening tests are continuing as more building owners send samples of Aluminium Composite Material to the Buildings Research Establishment for testing. The Department for Communities and Local Government publishes details of all items of expenditure over £250 every month and these costs will be included in these publications.

Council Housing: Repairs and Maintenance

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2017 to Question 4988, on council housing: repairs and maintenance, what criteria will be used to determine whether local authorities lack financial resources that would prevent refurbishment work going ahead.

Alok Sharma: The Government will consider the removal of financial restrictions where financial barriers stand in the way of essential work being done. Essential work would include circumstances where local fire services advise essential fire safety works are required to make a building safe. We will work with local authorities who approach us on a case by case basis.

Supported Housing

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many people (a) living in supported housing and (b) living in supported housing with a mental illness can pay their rent if the proposed reforms to supported housing funding are introduced.

Mr Marcus Jones: Supported housing supports many vulnerable people, including those with mental health problems, to live independently. Developing a workable and sustainable funding model for supported housing is a priority for the Government. Ability to pay rent will depend on a range of circumstances. Those who require supported housing and assistance with their housing costs will continue to be protected. We will set out further details on the Government’s plans in the autumn.

Housing: Carbon Emissions

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to ensure that all new homes are built to ultra-low emission standards from 2020.

Alok Sharma: As set out in the Housing White Paper - Fixing our broken housing market – we have started work on a review of the cost effectiveness of current energy performance standards for new homes. We will consult on improving the requirements on new homes if evidence suggests that there are opportunities to do so without making homes less affordable for those who want to buy their own home.Following the tragic events at Grenfell Tower we must also take into consideration any broader lessons which emerge from Dame Judith Hackett’s independent review of Building Regulations and fire safety to ensure that any proposed new requirements are safe and practical in addition to being cost effective and affordable.

Private Rented Housing: Energy

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to improve energy efficiency in the private rented sector.

Alok Sharma: My Department is working closely with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) which has policy responsibility for energy efficiency measures. From April 2018 The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations will require private rented sector landlords to improve the worst performing properties to a minimum EPC band E rating before they can be let, subject to certain exemptions. By April 2020, all private rented sector properties must achieve a minimum EPC band E rating, even if there has been no change in the tenancy, subject to certain exemptions.

Grenfell Tower: Fires

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many working hours have been spent by civil servants in his Department in response to the Grenfell Tower fire; and what proportion of his Department's civil servants total working hours was spent on that work.

Alok Sharma: To source this information would incur a disproportionate cost.

Refuges

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if the Government will place a duty on local authorities to (a) ensure that sufficient places of safety are available for victims of domestic violence and (b) encourage local authorities to have in place reciprocal arrangements so that the issue of victim safety is paramount.

Mr Marcus Jones: We are determined to ensure that victims get the help they need, when they need it.Our Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy is clear that refuges and other forms of specialist accommodation based services play a vital role in supporting victims of domestic abuse to move from danger to safety and independence.We have provided £20 million funding to 76 projects in England, creating more than 2,200 bed spaces and giving support to over 19,000 victims. This is in addition to the £13.5 million awarded in 2014/15 and 2015/16 to strengthen refuge and other safe accommodation provision.Local areas are best placed to understand local needs and the Government has devolved power and responsibility for meeting those needs accordingly, including to devolved administrations. However, we expect local areas to provide services that are responsive to the needs of victims fleeing from domestic abuse and make decisions on the provision of safe accommodation and support to fit the identified needs for all domestic abuse victims, both those from within and those who flee across local area boundaries. Our Priorities for Domestic Abuse Services reinforce the expectation that local areas should plan to support victims of domestic abuse who have moved to another area to stay safe.We are clear in the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy that we will review this approach after two years. If we are not reassured that women are receiving the support they need, then we will consider if moving to a national model of provision will improve these services for victims.

Planning Permission: East of England

Jo Churchill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of approved extant planning permissions in (a) Bury St Edmunds constituency and (b) East Anglia; and what the expiry date for each such planning permission is.

Alok Sharma: This information is not held centrally. Planning permissions are the responsibility of local planning authorities and as such this information can be requested from the relevant local planning authorities for the geography required.

Homelessness: Single People

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many single homeless people have accessed the main homelessness duty in England in each of the last 10 years.

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many people in England are currently classified as having intentionally made themselves homeless.

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many people in England had their application to the main homelessness duty refused in each of the last 10 years.

Mr Marcus Jones: DCLG publishes regular statistics on rough sleeping, statutory homelessness and homelessness prevention and relief. The latest statistics can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/homelessness-statistics.The Government remains committed to combating homelessness and rough sleeping. No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why we are aiming to halve rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminate it altogether by 2027.We also supported the Homelessness Reduction Act which received Royal Assent on 27th April 2017. The Act significantly reforms England’s homelessness legislation, ensuring that more people get the help they need earlier to prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place.

High Rise Flats: Fire Prevention

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to his Oral Statement of 3 July 2017, Official Report, column 912, on Grenfell Tower, how many of the 181 samples that failed fire tests had been used alongside (a) stone wool insulation and (b) PIR foam insulation.

Alok Sharma: Summary advice published on 5 September (available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-safety-programme-update-and-consolidated-advice-for-building-owners-following-large-scale-testing) sets out the results of screening tests and the seven large-scale system tests conducted over the summer.

Housing Estates: Regeneration

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the role of redevelopment projects on former local authority housing sites in the financial planning of local authorities.

Alok Sharma: A local authority may use receipts arising from the disposal of surplus housing land for any capital purpose, and they may assess the role of redevelopment projects on former local housing sites as part of their strategic or financial planning.

Housing Estates: Regeneration

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the effect on the domestic housing market of the exclusive sale of housing units in regenerated urban estates to foreign and offshore investors.

Alok Sharma: My Department has no plans to restrict foreign ownership of new residential property in the UK, but will keep the issue under review. Research on foreign ownership of new build housing in London (LSE and York University for the Greater London Authority, May 2017) found that less than 20 per cent had been sold to foreign investors. Of this 20 per cent they have largely (70 per cent plus) been rented to Londoners. The report also outlined the importance of these sales in terms of pre-sales commitments to enable the construction of major developments.

Compulsory Purchase

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the effect on (a) individual homeowners and (b) social diversity in the affected area of compulsory purchase orders issued by local authorities in relation to regeneration projects.

Alok Sharma: Government policy is that a Compulsory Purchase Order will only be confirmed if there is a compelling case in the public interest.When deciding whether or not confirm a compulsory purchase order, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government is subject to the Public Sector Equality Duty in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. He must have due regard to the need to (a) eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation; (b) advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it; and (c) foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it. The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientationThe Government has published a National Strategy for Estate Regeneration, which sets out government’s expectations for how landlords, developers and local authorities should engage with residents throughout an estate regeneration scheme, and for how residents should be protected.

Domestic Appliances

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of trends in the (a) use and (b) quality of portable appliance testing on electrical products in (i) private rented housing and (ii) businesses since the Lofstedt report on Reclaiming health and safety for all, published on 28 November 2011.

Alok Sharma: DCLG does not hold information on trends in use and quality of Portable Appliance Testing in private rented housing.A Working Group of experts was recently established to provide recommendations to Ministers on what, if any, legislative requirements for electrical safety in the private rented sector should be introduced. I am currently considering their report and recommendations.Electrical safety in businesses is addressed by Health and Safety Executive (HSE) legislation and guidance. HSE does not keep information on trends in the use and quality of portable appliance testing on electrical products in businesses.

Department for Communities and Local Government: Assets

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, in which of the last 10 years his Department has submitted a strategic asset management plan to the Government Property Unit.

Mr Marcus Jones: The Government Property Unit has commissioned Strategic Asset Management Plans (SAMPs) from departments on an annual basis since 2014. The SAMP articulates the property aspects of a department's business and forms part of the overall planning framework in government linked to each Single Departmental Plan. In some cases, where there are significant changes to a Department's remit (such as following a machinery of government change or major business re-views), the timing of a SAMP refresh may be aligned with the broader strategy for the Department. Information is provided regularly to the Government Property Unit about the management of the department’s property assets and Executive Summaries of SAMPs will be published for the first time in Autumn 2017.

Department for Communities and Local Government: Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of requests for consultancy and temporary staff for his Department were approved via a resource board.

Mr Marcus Jones: Business cases for appointments made on a consultancy and/or temporary (non-payroll) basis are reviewed by the Department's Procurement Division and not as part of any resource board.

Department for Communities and Local Government: Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether requests for consultancy and temporary staff for the his Department must be accompanied by a formal business case.

Mr Marcus Jones: The Department’s policy requires all consultancy and temporary staff requests over £10,000 to be accompanied by a formal business case.

Department for Communities and Local Government: Consultants

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of consultancy assignments procured by his Department are paid at a daily rate.

Mr Marcus Jones: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Department for Communities and Local Government: Public Bodies

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of new arms-length bodies his Department plans to establish once the UK has left the EU.

Mr Marcus Jones: The UK’s relationship with the EU's agencies upon exit will be evaluated in light of delivering the twelve objectives outlined by the Prime Minister to achieve a deep and special partnership between the UK and the EU. The UK’s future relationship with the EU's decentralised bodies after leaving the EU is a matter for the negotiations.Prior to any decisions on establishing new agencies, the Government will, however, always look to minimise disruption and costs, which will include considering alternative options.

Department for Communities and Local Government: Cybercrime

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the principle set out in paragraph 5.3.6 of the Government's Cyber Security Strategy that everyone who works in government has a sound awareness of cyber risk applies to members of staff employed by contractors doing work procured by his Department.

Mr Marcus Jones: The policy set out in paragraph 5.3.6 of the National Cyber Security Strategy applies to everyone employed by the Department for Communities and Local Government, including contractors.The Department for Communities and Local Government is committed to ensuring that contractors and their staff have a sound awareness of cyber risk matters and they take all necessary safeguards to protect the department’s information.Cyber security awareness, the need to ensure contractual compliance with Information Assurance standards such as ISO 27001:2013 certification and “Cyber Essentials/ Plus” is included in contract specifications and reviewed as part of the evaluation process. Contractors must comply with the department’s IT security policies and procedures.

Temporary Accommodation

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to reduce the number of (a) families and (b) children living in temporary accommodation.

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the total cost to local authorities of people living in temporary accommodation in 2017-18.

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of living in temporary accommodation on the health, well-being and life chances of children.

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to reduce the number of people living in temporary accommodation.

Mr Marcus Jones: England has a strong homelessness safety net, providing protection to the most vulnerable in our society. Time spent in temporary accommodation means people are getting help and it ensures no family is without a roof over their head.Homeless households do not have to wait as long for settled accommodation as the law was changed in 2012 allowing councils to place families in private rented accommodation meaning less time in temporary accommodation. The cost of temporary accommodation varies depending on the local housing market and the type of temporary accommodation used as well as the numbers of households in temporary accommodation.We provide a Flexible Homelessness Support Grant to local authorities for them to use more strategically to prevent and tackle homelessness. This amounts to £402 million over the two years from 2017/18.Devolving the funding to local authorities provides incentives to move families out of temporary accommodation and into settled accommodation more quickly, and with more certain upfront funding local authorities are able to tackle homelessness more pro-actively, pushing the balance of the investment away from crisis intervention and towards prevention.The number of children living in temporary accommodation is down from its peak in 2006 but we know there is room for improvement. That is why Government is committed to setting up a homelessness reduction taskforce that will focus on prevention and affordable housing.Also, from April 2018 we are implementing the most ambitious legislative reform in decades, the Homelessness Reduction Act. It significantly reforms England’s homelessness legislation, ensuring that more people get the help they need earlier to prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place.

Parish Councils: Ballots

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Answer of 23 February 2016 to HL6056, what progress the Government has made on implementing new regulations governing the conduct of parish polls; when the Government plans to publish the outcome of the Parish polls: consultation on the government's intentions to modernise parish poll regulations which concluded in 2014; and for what reasons a response to that consultation has not been published.

Mr Marcus Jones: Pursuant to the previous answer to HL6056 provided to Baroness Scott in 2016; work on revising the regulations has started. The regulations, alongside details of the response to consultation, will be laid as soon as practicable, taking into account current pressure on Parliamentary time.

Supported Housing: Finance

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the effect has been of changes in the timetable for introducing supported housing funding on the availability of new accommodation.

Mr Marcus Jones: Developing a workable and sustainable funding model for supported housing is a priority for the Government. This includes new supply. We will set out further details in the autumn.We are committed to protecting and boosting the supply of supported housing. Since 2011, we have delivered 27,000 supported housing units and at Autumn Statement 2015, we announced £400 million of funding as part of DCLG’s Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme, to deliver new supported housing.The Homes and Community Agency publishes official statistics on its affordable housing delivery programme in England (excluding London, where the Mayor of London has oversight), including on supported housing, which may be found here for the last 2 years:2015-16https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/532222/Housing_Statistics_tables_June_2016.pdf2016-17https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/620147/Housing_Statistics_tables_June_2017.pdf

Housing: Fire Extinguishers

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2017 to Question 4449, if the Government will make an assessment of the merits of bringing forward legislative proposals on installing automatic fire suppression systems in all new residential premises, student accommodation and nurse's houses, including buildings under 30 metres.

Alok Sharma: The Government will consider this issue in light of the Independent Review on Building Regulations and Fire Safety, the findings of the Public Inquiry and ongoing work to review regulations.

Department for Communities and Local Government: Brexit

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which EU legislation within his Department's responsibilities will (a) be incorporated into UK law through the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill and (b) require to be amended under powers in that Bill.

Mr Marcus Jones: The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill will convert European Union law into UK law as it applies in the UK at the moment of exit. This will ensure that, wherever possible, the same rules and laws will apply the day after exit as they did before.The Government is still making a detailed assessment of what corrections will be required to make that law function appropriately on exit day. The Government’s current estimate is that we will need to make between 800 and 1,000 statutory instruments to make exit a reality in UK law.

Housing

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he expects to publish a response to the public consultation on the Housing White Paper.

Alok Sharma: We are analysing responses to our consultation on the Housing White Paper and hope to publish our response shortly.We will consult soon on a new standardised approach to assessing local housing need. We recognise that this consultation will need to be read alongside our other White Paper proposals and do not expect to publish our response to the Housing White Paper consultation until the completion of this further consultation.

Sleeping Rough: Mental Health Services

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to provide mental health assessment and professional support to people sleeping rough.

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to provide support and appropriate housing to prevent people from sleeping rough after they leave mental health hospitals.

Mr Marcus Jones: No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why Government is committed to halving rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminating it altogether by 2027.We know that homelessness is more than just a housing issue. That is why we are already working across Government, driving action to support the complex needs of rough sleepers, including mental health needs.We are investing £30 million in projects specifically to support rough sleepers. Our £20 million Rough Sleeping Grant is funding 48 projects across England, many of which are working secure accommodation and support for with mental health needs who are sleeping rough, and those at risk of at the point of discharge from hospital. Our £10 million Social Impact Bond funding will provide personalised support for up to 1,200 homeless people with the most complex needs, including mental health needs.

Burial: Fees and Charges

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of local authority charges for burial fees for children in (a) Newcastle, (b) the North East and (c) England.

Mr Marcus Jones: The information requested is not held centrally.The Government recognises that the loss of a child is an incredibly difficult and distressing time for any family and that the cost of burial can be an additional concern. Payments may be available, through the Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payment scheme, to people who meet the eligibility conditions. In addition, it is open to local authorities to waive burial and cremation fees for children, as some already do.

Devolution: Yorkshire and the Humber

John Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether a devolution deal for Yorkshire that included provision for one combined authority and an elected mayor would require primary legislation.

Jake Berry: A combined authority with an elected mayor could be established for the area by order, subject to Parliamentary approval, the consent of all councils concerned, and the statutory tests set out in the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 being met.

Construction Products Regulations 2013

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what penalties his Department has imposed on businesses not complying with the Construction Products Regulations 2013 since those regulations were introduced.

Alok Sharma: Compliance monitoring and enforcement of the Construction Products Regulation is carried out by local authorities’ Weights and Measures (Trading Standards) in England, Scotland and Wales and District Councils in Northern Ireland, not the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Grenfell Tower Inquiry

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress has been made on identifying and addressing issues in social housing referred to in the Prime Minister's statement on the Grenfell Tower inquiry terms of reference of 15 August 2017; and if he will make a statement.

Alok Sharma: Holding answer received on 11 September 2017



As announced by the Prime Minister on 15 August, it is incredibly important that we look into the wider questions raised by the Grenfell Tower fire – including around social housing – and how best to address these issues.In taking this forward, it is also important that we engage directly with social tenants to help build up a comprehensive picture of some of the immediate issues they are facing, as well as to identify any common concerns that must inform any national approach.I have met with representatives of national tenant organisations to seek their views on this process, and a programme of events is currently been drawn up for me to personally meet and hear from as many social tenants both in the immediate area around Grenfell Tower, but also across the country. There will be further announcements on this work shortly as arrangements are finalised.

Construction Products Regulations 2013

Ronnie Cowan: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department takes to ensure that trading standards departments enforce the Construction Products Regulations 2013.

Alok Sharma: EU Construction Products Regulations (EU 305/2011) are enforced under the UK Construction Products Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/1387).Compliance monitoring and enforcement duties fall to local authorities’ Weights and Measures (Trading Standards) in England, Scotland and Wales and District Councils in Northern Ireland. It is for these bodies to determine how they carry out their duties but they follow the Enforcement Concordat (http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file10150.pdf) and the Regulators Compliance Code (http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file45019.pdf).

Homelessness: Rural Areas

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to support rural local authorities in the provision of emergency accommodation for homelessness cases.

Mr Marcus Jones: We have replaced the Department for Work and Pension's Temporary Accommodation Management Fee with a Flexible Homelessness Support Grant which local authorities can use more strategically to prevent and tackle homelessness. This amounts to £402 million over the two years from 2017/18.The funding has been allocated according to a formula which reflects relative homeless pressures and the cost of using the private rented sector to meet them.

Grenfell Tower: Fires

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 24 July 2017 to Question 5176, whether those from voluntary sector organisations and those working at the Westway Assistance Centre who are working with children affected by the Grenfell Tower fire are required to undertake Disclosure and Barring Service checks.

Alok Sharma: It is the responsibility and statutory duty of an employer to check that an individual has been cleared to work in direct contact with children or vulnerable adults. The Westway Assistance Centre has now closed, with many of the services transferred to the Community Assistance Centre at Bard Road. Disclosure and Barring checks are unlikely to apply to the majority of those working at the Community Assistance Centre. However, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council, as part of its volunteer strategy and future plans for the Community Assistance Centre, is encouraging all staff and volunteers to sign up to a voluntary code of conduct including Disclosure and Barring, and suitability, checks.

Local Government: Employment

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made in trends of levels of employment for local authorities for (a) child social care, (b) adult social care, (c) refuse collection and (d) other services when the UK leaves the EU.

Mr Marcus Jones: As Government has made clear, we will continue to welcome the contribution EU citizens bring to our economy and society once we exit the EU. The Government is carefully considering a range of options as to how EU migration will work for new arrivals post-exit and will publish proposals as soon as possible. In the meantime, my department is working closely with local authorities and a wide range of other interested parties to understand the impacts and challenges of EU exit and plan for a wide range of scenarios.

Local Government Services

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what representations he has made to the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union on the effect of an end to free movement of people on the delivery of local authority services when the UK leaves the EU.

Mr Marcus Jones: My department is working closely with local government to understand the impacts of EU Exit. We will continue to engage with local government to ensure the sector's voice is heard across Whitehall and in negotiations.

Local Government

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will publish a list of his European counterparts that he has met to discuss the effect on local government of the UK leaving the EU in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Marcus Jones: UK Government’s engagement with the European Union is co-ordinated centrally by the Department for Exiting the European Union. All ministerial visits and meetings can be viewed in the departments quarterly transparency return which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dclg-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings-january-to-march-2017.

Buildings: Fire Prevention

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 4 September 2017 to Question 5213, on buildings: fire prevention, whether replacement of cladding with cladding of a similar appearance but of a different material composition requires planning permission.

Alok Sharma: I refer the Hon Member for Denton and Reddish to the answer I gave on 4 September 2017 to Question UIN 5213. Section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 sets out that where work does not materially alter the appearance of a building, planning permission may not be required. Planning permission is ultimately a matter for each Local Planning Authority.

Fire Regulations: Prosecutions

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many prosecutions have been brought for breach of fire safety building regulations in each of the last seven years.

Alok Sharma: The Department for Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Scotland Office

Ports: Scotland

Andrew Bowie: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what plans the Government has to deliver an ultra deep water port on the East Coast of Scotland.

David Mundell: The Government is committed to supporting the development of a world-leading decommissioning industry. We have already invested in the Oil and Gas Technology Centre through the Aberdeen City Region deal, with the aim of becoming a global centre for solving offshore mature basin, subsea and decommissioning technology challenges. But whilst a number of UK companies have been successful in winning decommissioning contracts, no UK port currently has the ultra-deep water facilities needed to directly accommodate the fully-loaded heavy lift vessels commonly used for decommissioning large platforms. The Government intends to take forward scoping work to examine the market failure to deliver these facilities, and potential options for intervention to ensure that the UK is able to effectively compete for forthcoming decommissioning projects. I’d be happy to meet the hon Member to discuss this work further.

Visas: Malawi

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether he has had discussions with the Home Secretary on the visa process for the issue of visas to Malawians visiting the UK; and what representations he has received on that process.

David Mundell: I am in regular contact with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on a range of immigration issues. The United Kingdom, and particularly Scotland, have long historical ties with Malawi. Many people and organisations across Scotland, including the Scotland-Malawi Partnership, have strong links and provide support to groups in Malawi. I have visited Malawi twice as a UK Government Minister, and have seen for myself the great work that we can achieve together on a number of projects. The Scotland-Malawi Partnership may sponsor visas, and has raised the issue with officials in the Home Office and UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), who have explored how visa applications can be properly prepared, although all applications must comply with immigration rules.

Dover House: Repairs and Maintenance

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much his Department spent on renovations and repairs to Dover House in 2016-17.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office spent £152,019 on repairs and maintenance to Dover House in 2016-17.

Scotland Office: Brexit

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, which EU legislation within his Department's responsibilities will (a) be incorporated into UK law through the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill and (b) require to be amended under powers in that Bill.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office is not responsible for any EU legislation but is reviewing the UK legislation it is responsible for to establish where corrections are required to take account of our exit from the EU.

Scotland Office: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much his Department has paid in letting fees for its estate in each year since 2010.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office spend on letting fees for its estate in each year since 2010 is shown below. YearCost2010-11£213,2722011-12£198,7852012-13£199,0382013-14£198,7202014-15£401,3582015-16£466,1202016-17£483,081

Scotland Office: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many procurements undertaken by his Department have taken more than (a) three months, (b) six months, (c) one year and (d) two years.

David Mundell: Other than minor or bespoke purchases, the Scotland Office does not normally undertake direct procurement or tendering projects. It uses existing service contracts between suppliers and the Scottish Government, the Ministry of Justice or the Cabinet Office. The Scotland Office do not therefore hold records of the procurement process duration.

Scotland Office: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much his Department has received from sub-lets on its estate in each year since 2010.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office does not sub-let its estate, it uses the process of a Memorandum of Terms of Occupation which enables us to use assets efficiently and share space between government organisations.

Department for International Trade

Ceramics: EU Action

Gareth Snell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications of the outcome of the European Commission investigation R650 on the kaolin and ball clay industry.

Gareth Snell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications of the outcome of the European Commission investigation R650 on UK ceramic tile manufacturers.

Gareth Snell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to the expiry review of Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 917/2011, what his Department's policy is on maintaining anti-dumping duties on ceramic floor and wall tiles imported from China.

Greg Hands: Holding answer received on 11 September 2017



The European Commission’s review of the anti-dumping measures on imports of ceramic tiles is ongoing and yet to make its final proposals.Currently, a number of trade remedy measures are being applied by the EU, some of which affect UK industry. The Government is looking into the detail of UK trade remedies policy as a whole as we leave the EU and will bring forth proposals shortly. The Government is aiming to maintain continuity for businesses as we exit from the EU.

Department for International Trade: Devolution

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, when he last met his counterpart at the (a) National Assembly for Wales and (b) Scottish Parliament; and if he will publish the agenda of those meetings.

Mark Garnier: DIT Ministers and officials engage with the Devolved Administrations in a variety of ways, including having given evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Relations Committee.

Trade Agreements: Dominican Republic

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what representations have been made to the Government of the Dominican Republic on replicating its EU-wide trade deal with the UK after the UK leaves the EU.

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what representations he has received from the the Government of the Dominican Republic on replicating its EU-wide trade deal with the UK after the UK leaves the EU.

Greg Hands: The Government is committed to seeking continuity in its current trade and investment relationships, including the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement which includes the Dominican Republic. My noble Friend, the former Minister of State for Trade Policy (Lord Price), and UK trade officials met with representatives of the CARIFORUM Member States, including the Dominican Republic, in the spring to begin discussions to achieve this.

Trade Agreements: Morocco

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what representations have been made to the Government of Morocco on replicating its EU-wide trade deal with the UK after the UK leaves the EU.

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what representations he has received from the Government of Morocco on replicating its EU-wide trade deal with the UK after the UK leaves the EU.

Greg Hands: The UK Government is committed to seeking continuity in its current trade and investment relationships, including those covered by EU Free Trade Agreements or other EU preferential arrangements. We are actively exploring what may be possible in terms of replicating the effects of the current association agreement with Morocco in order to provide certainty for businesses.

EU External Trade: Turkey

Matthew Pennycook: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent discussions he or officials of his Department have had with the Turkish Government about that country's customs agreement with the EU.

Greg Hands: The UK Government will look to ensure continuity of trade between the UK and Turkey, following the UK's exit from the EU, factoring in the possible implications of Turkey's existing customs arrangement with the EU. As a result, officials in the Department for International Trade, the Department for Exiting the EU, the UK Permanent Representation to the EU, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have met officials from the Republic of Turkey.

Trade Agreements: South Korea

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what representations have been made to the Government of South Korea on replicating its EU-wide trade deal with the UK after the UK leaves the EU.

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what representations have been received from the Government of South Korea on replicating its EU-wide trade deal with the UK after the UK leaves the EU.

Greg Hands: The UK Government is committed to seeking continuity in its current trade and investment relationships, including those covered by EU free trade agreements or other EU preferential arrangements. At the UK-Korea JETCO in December 2016, my Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade and the South Korean Trade Minister agreed to establish a UK Korea Trade Working Group. The Working Group will discuss tackling barriers to trade and investment, wider global trade issues and how to ensure continuity for businesses, as well as exploring future trade opportunities following the UK’s exit from the EU. The first meeting of the Working Group was held in Seoul in February 2017.

Department for International Trade: Secondment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many applications his Department has received for (a) internal loans and (b) secondments from civil servants in each year since 2010.

Greg Hands: Since the department was formed in July 2016 we have had 2,591 applications from Civil Servants for advertised internal loan opportunities. We do not offer secondments internally within the Civil Service, as transfers of this nature happen on a loan basis.

Department for International Trade: Assets

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, in which of the last 10 years his Department has submitted a strategic asset management plan to the Government Property Unit.

Greg Hands: The Department for International Trade was created on 13 July 2016 and therefore has not been required to submit a strategic asset management plan to the Government Property Unit.

Department for International Trade: Consultants

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what proportion of consultancy assignments procured by his Department are paid at a daily rate.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what proportion of requests for consultancy and temporary staff for his Department were approved via a resource board.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether requests for consultancy and temporary staff for the his Department must be accompanied by a formal business case.

Greg Hands: In June 2016, the Department for International Trade brought together teams from the former UK Trade & Investment and teams from the former Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Cabinet Office, each with their own approvals regimes. Through a period of transition, including implementation of machinery of government changes, the department has established a coherent range of processes, governing the use of consultants and temporary staff which fit within the wider Cabinet Office Controls framework and these are kept under regular review. The processes depend on the nature of the work required, its duration, the value and the risk or complexity.The Department endeavours to minimize the use of consultants. The proportion of any such consultancy assignments that are paid at a daily rate is not available as a metric.

Department for International Trade: Arms Length External Organisations

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what estimate he has made of the number of new arms-length bodies his Department plans to establish once the UK has left the EU.

Greg Hands: The UK’s relationship with the EU's agencies upon exit will be evaluated in light of delivering the twelve objectives outlined by the Prime Minister to achieve a deep and special partnership between the UK and the EU. The UK’s future relationship with the EU's decentralised bodies after leaving the EU is a matter for the negotiations. The Department for International Trade is in the process of developing its future UK trade policy. Prior to any decisions on establishing new agencies, the Government will always look to minimise disruption and costs.

Department for International Trade: Cybercrime

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether the principle set out in paragraph 5.3.6 of the Government's Cyber Security Strategy that everyone who works in government has a sound awareness of cyber risk applies to members of staff employed by contractors doing work procured by his Department.

Greg Hands: The policy set out in paragraph 5.3.6 of the National Cyber Security Strategy applies to everyone employed by the Department for International Trade, including contractors.The Department for International Trade is committed to ensuring that contractors and their staff have a sound awareness of cyber risk matters and they take all necessary safeguards to protect the department’s information.Cyber security awareness, the need to ensure contractual compliance with Information Assurance standards such as ISO 27001:2013 certification and “Cyber Essentials/ Plus” is included in contract specifications and reviewed as part of the evaluation process. Contractors must comply with the department’s IT security policies and procedures.

Business: Stafford

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many businesses in Stafford constituency have received export support from his Department since it was set up.

Mark Garnier: Since the creation of the Department for International Trade (DIT) this department has supported 130 Staffordshire businesses to achieve exports of £30m. Additionally, a further 101 Staffordshire businesses have attended DIT export focused events. Please note that data is available for Staffordshire only.

Overseas Trade

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what estimate he has been made of the cost to the UK of setting up a commercial defence investigatory body to oversee anti-dumping (AD) and anti-subsidy (AS) investigations, follow up complaints by UK industry in line with WTO rules, monitor undertakings and monitor AD and countervailing measures arising out of AS investigations by other countries.

Greg Hands: The Department for International Trade is in the process of developing a cost effective strategy for investigating and tackling dumping, subsidies and safeguards in order to protect domestic industry against injury whilst taking appropriate account of impacts on users and consumers and the wider trade agenda. This work is ongoing and cost estimates cannot yet be finalised.

Department for International Trade: Brexit

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, which EU legislation within his Department's responsibilities will (a) be incorporated into UK law through the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill and (b) require to be amended under powers in that Bill.

Greg Hands: The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill will convert European Union law into UK law as it applies in the UK at the moment of exit. This will ensure that, wherever possible, the same rules and laws will apply the day after exit as they did before. The Government is still making a detailed assessment of what corrections will be required to make that law function appropriately on exit day. The Government’s current estimate is that we will need to make between 800 and 1,000 statutory instruments to make exit a reality in UK law.

Overseas Trade

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what estimate he has made of the cost of setting up a department to investigate trade barriers not related to anti-dumping or anti-subsidy investigations in countries that discriminate against UK exports.

Greg Hands: The Department for International Trade is developing a cost effective approach for identifying and tackling trade barriers that discriminate against UK exporters. This work is ongoing and cost estimates cannot yet be finalised.

Arms Trade

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether his Department plans to align arms export policy with the EU Common Position on Arms Exports when the UK leaves the EU.

Mark Garnier: Common Position 2008/944/CFSP is given effect in the UK through the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. This has the status of guidance given under Section 9 of the Export Control Act 2002. After the UK leaves the EU, they will remain in force until such time as any new or amended guidance is announced to Parliament.

Department for International Trade: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much his Department has received from sub-lets on its estate in each year since 2010.

Greg Hands: The Department for International Trade has not sub-let any of its estate since it was created in July 2016 and therefore has received no income from sub-lets.

Department for International Trade: Ethnic Groups

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what proportion of his senior trade negotiating team are from black and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Greg Hands: The Trade Policy Group within the Department for International Trade has the responsibility for developing, coordinating and delivering a new trade policy. Of the Senior Civil Servants in this team, 36% have declared their ethnicity, and of those, 8% are from a black or minority ethnic background.

Department for International Trade: Females

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what proportion of his senior trade negotiating team are women.

Greg Hands: The Trade Policy Group within the Department for International Trade has the responsibility for developing, coordinating and delivering a new trade policy. Of the Senior Civil Servants in this team, 55% are women.

Women and Equalities

Sports: Females

Grahame Morris: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she plans to discuss with the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport better representation of women's sport on terrestrial television.

Anne Milton: The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport is working to raise the profile of women’s sport in the media and encourage more commercial investment into women’s sport. Decisions on content and programming are made independently by broadcasters and editors.Since the Olympics in 2012, there has been a notable increase in the coverage of women’s sport on terrestrial television, including the recent UEFA Women’s Euro 2017 broadcast on Channel 4. The Government Equalities Office is committed to removing the barriers to equality and undertakes a range of work to help women and girls achieve their potential, including in education and the workplace.Ministers meet frequently to discuss a number of issues concerning women’s representation.

Abortion: Finance

Layla Moran: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what the timetable is for delivering funding for abortions for Northern Irish women in England; and if she will make a statement.

Anne Milton: On 29 June, the government committed to providing abortions in England without charge for residents of Northern Ireland.We have been given assurances that, since that date, women from Northern Ireland have not been charged for abortions provided in England. We are working with service providers to agree a mechanism to deliver the service for women from Northern Ireland that replicates as closely as possible the service that residents of England receive.

Equal Pay

Layla Moran: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, with reference to the Equality and Human Rights Commission's Fair opportunities for all: A strategy to reduce pay gaps in Britain report, what steps she is taking to tackle gender, ethnicity and disability pay gaps.

Anne Milton: We note the findings of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s research into gender, ethnicity and disability pay gaps. The Government is tackling pay gaps by requiring large employers, including the public sector, to publish their gender pay gap and gender bonus gap. In addition, we are exploring options for introducing other forms of pay gap reporting. Furthermore, the government is offering 30 hours of free childcare for working families with 3 and 4 year-olds, has extended the right to request flexible working to all employees and introduced shared parental leave. In addition, we are providing £5m of funding to increasing Returners Programmes. We are also encouraging girls to consider a wider range of careers, including in those higher paying sectors traditionally dominated by men, through funding programmes in schools to increase take-up of STEM subjects and programmes such as STEM ambassadors.

Department for Transport

High Speed 2 Railway Line: Rolling Stock

Iain Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what cost-benefit analysis he has made of the High Speed 2 rolling stock procurement of a (a) mixed fleet of classic compatible and captive and (b) single fleet of classic compatible trains.

Paul Maynard: A full economic appraisal has been carried out by HS2 Ltd. for the evaluation of the Phase 1/2a rolling stock fleet mix options in line with the HS2 Business Case modelling framework. The cost-benefit analysis confirmed the procurement of a single fleet of classic (or conventional) compatible trains is expected to deliver similar value for money to that of a mixed fleet solution.

Public Transport

Mims Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to encourage people to use public transport in order to reduce congestion and its associated effect on air quality.

Jesse Norman: The Government is committed to tackling congestion and improving air quality across the UK. High quality and accessible public transport will play a key role in this, alongside other forms of sustainable transport such as cycling and walking. Our rail plans are seeing the largest investment in the railway since Victorian times, which will help make rail travel more attractive through state-of-the-art new trains and stations, together with more and faster services. The Bus Services Act, which received Royal Assent in April 2017, gives local authorities a further range of tools, such as partnership working and franchising, to deliver service improvements for bus passengers, aiming to drive up bus use and help cut congestion. Our Cycling and Walking Strategy, published in April 2017 identified £1.2bn of investment in cycling and walking from 2016-21.

Airports: Air Pollution

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of the absence of an air quality strategy on the draft national policy statement on airports.

Mr John Hayes: The Government is determined to meet its air quality obligations. The Government published the final UK Air Quality Plan on 26 July which includes additional measures to improve air quality nationwide. The Government consulted on a draft Airports NPS between 2 February and 25 May this year and the consultation document was clear that further work was underway to update the evidence base, including revised aviation demand forecasts and the government’s final Air Quality Plan. The Secretary of State for Transport announced on 7 September that there is a need to conduct a short period of further consultation to allow this updated evidence to be taken into account. The draft Airports National Policy Statement sets out the Government’s view that, with a suitable package of policy and mitigation measures, the Heathrow Northwest Runway scheme would be capable of being delivered without impacting the UK’s compliance with air quality limit values. The government will make meeting air quality legal requirements a condition of planning approval.

Railways: Luton Airport

Mr Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the consultation document on East Midlands rail franchise, published in July 2017, whether his Department has considered the effect on the local economy of an increase in the number of fast trains from London to London Luton Airport to four an hour.

Paul Maynard: The Department is still undertaking a process of information gathering to develop the specification for the next East Midlands rail franchise. All options for future East Midlands services are subject to analysis of the potential benefits and consultation with stakeholders, which is currently ongoing. We are considering the case for additional services to Luton Airport and are working collaboratively with Luton Airport to understand their proposals. Any outcome will seek to secure the best value for money for the taxpayer, be in the best interests of passengers and the decisions will be taken using economic analysis, which includes social and environmental impacts. The formal public consultation continues until 11 October and will inform the specification, I would strongly encourage the honourable Member to make his views known through the consultation process before it closes.

Lewes-Uckfield Railway Line: Electrification

Tom Tugendhat: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will implement the recommendation in Appendix 5 of the Gibb Report on electrification of the Uckfield line.

Paul Maynard: The Government is committed to improving services on the Uckfield Line. We recently completed a £19.2m project to enable longer 10-car trains to operate on the line, giving passengers much-needed extra seating and space. Further improvements will be further assessed in light of available funding, as part of the development of our infrastructure upgrade plans for Control Period 6, covering 2019–2024.

Taxis: Registration

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department plans to establish a national database of registered taxi and private hire vehicles in conjunction with the DVLA and police.

Mr John Hayes: The Government currently has no plans to establish a national database of registered taxi and private hire vehicles. However, at the recent Westminster Hall Debate on the ‘Regulation of working conditions in the private hire industry’ I announced my intention to set up a working group to consider the regulation of the sector. The group’s terms of reference and membership will be confirmed shortly.

Motor Vehicles: Fuels

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department had with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs before the announcement of a ban on petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040.

Jesse Norman: My Department works closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in developing the Government’s response to the shared challenges of improving air quality and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Government announced an intention to end the sale of all new conventional cars and vans by 2040 as part of the ‘UK plan for tackling roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations’ (July 2017). My Department engaged closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and other relevant departments to draft and agree this Plan, including at Ministerial level.

High Speed 2 Railway Line: York Station

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding will be available to York Railway Station to handle HS2 services.

Paul Maynard: To the extent that works are required at York to accommodate the overall number of trains including HS2 in the 2030s, this will be taken into account as part of the normal railway industry planning processes.

High Speed 2 Railway Line: York Station

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of York Railway Station's capacity to handle HS2 services.

Paul Maynard: Train service assumptions for HS2 and other rail services at York have been published as part of the HS2 Phase 2 business case. Railway industry planning processes will further develop assessments of capacity and more detailed timetable plans in due course.

Transport: North East

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the capital spend on transport was per head of population in (a) the North East, (b) Northumberland and (c) Wansbeck constituency in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Paul Maynard: Figures on public sector spend per head of population at a regional level are available as part of the government’s Country and Regional Analysis (CRA) statistics. However, the benefits from this spend on transport interventions will often accrue to motorists or passengers far beyond the residents of the immediate local area or region. This is particularly the case for spending on motorways, trunk roads, and the railway which connect cities and regions across the country. Although the CRA attempts to allocate expenditure on the basis of the regions that benefit from the spend, rather than where it is made, inevitably allocations are not always precise. The latest CRA statistics (2016) for the North East of England suggest that in 2015-16, total government expenditure on transport per head of population was £182. This information is available for government office regions only, and therefore is unavailable for Northumberland or the Wansbeck constituency.

Helicopters: Offshore Industry

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment has the Civil Aviation Authority made of the safety of Airbus 225 Super Puma Helicopters for use in the offshore industry; and if he will publish the details of that assessment.

Mr John Hayes: The safety of those who travel on offshore helicopter flights is a key priority for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). On 7th July 2017 the CAA announced that they had completed a review of Airbus Helicopters and the European Aviation Safety Agency’s changes made to the Super Puma Helicopters. Following this review, which involved extensive investigation, testing and changes to the helicopter and its maintenance, the CAA has lifted their restrictions that prohibited all commercial flying of this type by UK operators but on condition that a plan of checks, modifications and inspections will need to be undertaken before any flights take place. The CAA continues to work with helicopter operators, offshore industries, international regulators, unions and pilot representatives to enhance offshore safety standards still further and all these parties are actively involved in ongoing discussions.

Department for Transport: Redundancy Pay

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 6 July 2017 to Question 3368 on redundancy, how much of the £17,011,102 paid out in exit packages in 2016-17 was given to (a) men and (b) women.

Mr John Hayes: Payments to men account for 77 per cent and payments to women account for 23 per cent.

Department for Transport: Redundancy Pay

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 6 July 2017 to Question 3368 on redundancy, how much of the £17,987,001 paid out in exit payments in 2015-16 was given to (a) men and (b) women.

Mr John Hayes: Payments to men accounted for 82 per cent and payments to women accounted for 18 per cent.

Department for Transport: Arms Length External Organisations

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of new arms-length bodies his Department plans to establish once the UK has left the EU.

Jesse Norman: The Department’s current assessment is that any additional transport-related functions falling to the Government after EU exit can be undertaken by existing bodies.

Department for Transport: Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether requests for consultancy and temporary staff for the his Department must be accompanied by a formal business case.

Mr John Hayes: The HR Departmental Approvals Committee (DAC) approves Contingent Labour spend and all requests for temporary agency staff must include a business case for the panel to approve. A formal business case may be provided for larger spends. Consultancy does not have a central approval mechanism so this varies between the centre and the agencies as follows: DFTA business case is always required. DVLAA formal business case is always required for consultancy staff in the form of an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) spend approval. DVSANot all requests for consultancy and temporary staff are accompanied by a formal business case. The decision as to whether a formal business case is needed to accompany the request for consultancy and temporary staff is subject to value and circumstances. MCAA formal business case is required for new consultancy spend over £50,000. VCAA business case is always required. The Department complies with the appropriate Cabinet Office controls for consultancy expenditure and spending that exceeds the threshold may require additional detail in a business case.

Department for Transport: Cybercrime

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the principle set out in paragraph 5.3.6 of the Government's Cyber Security Strategy that everyone who works in government has a sound awareness of cyber risk applies to members of staff employed by contractors doing work procured by his Department.

Mr John Hayes: Staff employed by our contractors are not able to access the Department for Transport’s IT systems without first agreeing to comply with our acceptable use policies. This places them under the same obligations to maintain the security and confidentiality of the Department’s information and systems as staff employed directly by the Department. They then receive the same communications and training on cyber security risks as our own staff, with those working in higher risk areas receiving a higher level of training. Where the Department’s sensitive information is processed by our contractors on their own systems, we require them to provide annual assurance that their staff and sub-contractors have received appropriate information security awareness training. DfT follows government procurement policy on cyber security. Contracts will contain appropriate confidentiality and security clauses where the service involves handling personal information and providing certain ICT products and services.

High Speed Two: Redundancy

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of the National Audit Office of 11 July 2017 on the 2016-17 Accounts of HS2 Ltd, whether HS2 Ltd's agreement to pay above approved levels for redundancy schemes has had consequences for the (a) structure, (b) management and (c) other aspects of that company.

Paul Maynard: HS2 Ltd fully accepts the findings and recommendations of the National Audit Office report on the 2016-17 redundancy scheme. The HS2 Ltd Board instructed the new Chief Executive of HS2 Ltd to ensure the situation described by the NAO cannot happen again. He has made a number of senior appointments in both HR and Finance to implement improvements to internal controls and governance arrangements. Additional controls are already in place on redundancy payments, while upgrades and improvements to the underlying staff and payroll systems are in development, and will be completed by May 2018. New governance arrangements are being agreed between the Department for Transport and HS2 Ltd to ensure all approvals processes and decisions are properly recorded and cascaded.

Department for Transport: Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of requests for consultancy and temporary staff for his Department were approved via a resource board.

Mr John Hayes: There is a central Departmental Approvals Committee (DAC) for the contingent labour framework which is used to recruit all temporary agency staff. Consultancy does not have a central approval mechanism; the Department and executive agencies have the following process: DFTAll consultancy approvals are obtained from the finance DAC panel. DVLAAll consultancy approvals are obtained via the ICT spend approval process. DVSAConsultancy and temporary staff approvals are obtained from the People Committee or the Investment and Change Committee, depending on the circumstances. MCAMCA records any consultancy expenditure over £10k on its central contract management system. All consultancy approvals for spend over £50,000 is delegated to the appropriate MCA board. No records for consultancy were identified. VCAAll consultancy approvals are obtained from the head of department, head of HR and CEO.  The Department also complies with the appropriate Cabinet Office controls for consultancy expenditure.

Department for Transport: Assets

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, in which of the last 10 years his Department has submitted a strategic asset management plan to the Government Property Unit.

Mr John Hayes: Strategic Asset Management Plans were first commissioned in 2014; the Department has submitted a Strategic Asset Management Plan to the Government Property Unit in each year since that date.

Department for Transport: Secondment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many applications his Department has received for (a) internal loans and (b) secondments from civil servants in each year since 2010.

Mr John Hayes: This information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Air Space: Greater London

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment has been undertaken of the effect of the creation of Heathrow's third runway and the upgrade to the runway at RAF Northolt will have on airspace capacity in West London; and whether Heathrow's third runway creation will reduce the ability to operate flights from RAF Northolt.

Mr John Hayes: The National Air Traffic Services (NATS) undertook initial fast time simulation work for the Airports Commission to assess the possible implications arising from the indicative airspace design for a third runway at Heathrow Airport. This work took account of the likely air traffic demands of airports across the South East, including RAF Northolt. Airspace design proposals for a third runway at Heathrow Airport will need to follow the Civil Aviation Authority’s airspace change process. This is a thorough process requiring extensive consultation with communities and other stakeholders, including the military and airports that may be affected by the proposal. The decision to upgrade RAF Northolt’s runway in 2018 is a policy and operational matter for the Secretary of State for Defence.

Community Transport: EU Law

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the Government's policy is on the application of the derogation in Article 1 (4) of Regulation (EC) No. 1071/2009 for community transport operators which have a main occupation other than that of road passenger transport operator to operate vehicles under section 19 or 22 permit to parish and town councils.

Jesse Norman: Regulation 1071/2009 has had direct effect in UK law since 2011. The Government’s position is that any operator whose main occupation is not providing road passenger transport services is exempt from complying with this Regulation and can continue operating, using their current section 19 and section 22 permits.

Department for Transport: Brexit

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which EU legislation within his Department's responsibilities will (a) be incorporated into UK law through the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill and (b) require to be amended under powers in that Bill.

Jesse Norman: The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill will convert European Union law into UK law as it applies in the UK at the moment of exit. This will ensure that, wherever possible, the same rules and laws will apply the day after exit as they did before. The Government is still making a detailed assessment of what corrections will be required to make that law function appropriately on exit day. The Government’s current estimate is that we will need to make between 800 and 1,000 statutory instruments to make exit effective in UK law.

Railways: North of England

John Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what provisions there are in the (a) TransPennine and (b) Northern franchise to encourage (i) the operation of trains on Boxing Day and (ii) equalisation of fares across county boundaries; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Maynard: The Northern franchise requires them to consult with passengers, user groups, Network Rail, other train operators, and other relevant stakeholders on the potential demand for passenger services on Boxing Day. . Once this is done they must prepare and submit a report to the Secretary of State which sets out their proposals for operating Boxing Day services. As part of this process Northern must provide a minimum of 60services to operate on Boxing Day 2018. The TPE franchise requires them to carry out a similar consultation and report process. At the direction of the Secretary of State the Franchisee shall undertake the consultation required in conjunction with the Northern Franchisee. There are obligations within both franchise agreements aimed at harmonising fares across the network to resolve inequalities across County boundaries.

East Coast Rail Franchise

John Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has received representations from (a) Stagecoach and (b) Virgin Eastcoast on renegotiating the terms of Virgin East Coast's contract to operate the East Coast mainline; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Maynard: We are in regular discussions with train operators over performance of their contractual obligations. We are unable to comment on the specific details of individual franchise agreements.

Railway Stations: West Yorkshire

John Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many rail passengers used (a) Ilkley, (b) Keighley, (c) Ben Rhydding and (d) Steeton and Silsden stations in each year since 2010.

Paul Maynard: The Office of Rail and Road produces estimates of station usage in terms of the total number of people entering and exiting each national rail station in Great Britain. Annual estimates for the four stations requested from 2010-11 to 2015-16 (the latest year for which data are available) are given in the table below. Entries and exits by station from 2010-11 to 2015-16 Station2010-112011-122012-132013-142014-152015-16Ilkley1,342,0181,374,2761,211,9921,253,4761,299,4961,303,810Keighley1,653,2981,682,5861,627,5921,639,2501,720,8041,702,720Ben Rhydding180,778181,518196,524198,462210,342220,770Steeton & Silsden744,336750,926787,810797,060862,046838,874

Govia Thameslink Railway: Tickets

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the scheduled opening and closing times of every ticket office along the Brighton Mainline portion of the Govia Thameslink Railway franchise are; whether those opening times have been met in each of the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Maynard: The regulated opening hours of ticket offices are set out in Schedule 17 of the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement which is published by the Rail Delivery Group on their website.https://www.raildeliverygroup.com/files/Publications/services/rsp/TSA_schedule_17_July_2015.pdf This information has been placed in the Libraries of the House. Compliance with these hours is not monitored by the Department. We expect that Govia Thameslink Railway will manage the opening hours effectively. If an issue is raised with the Department, we will investigate as necessary.

Railways: Tickets

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the technology required for the introduction of part-time season tickets; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Maynard: The Secretary of State has announced his ambition for all passengers to have a smart choice for their ticket by the end of 2018. In the Autumn Statement 2016, the government committed to spend around £80m to accelerate the roll out of smart ticketing, including season tickets, singles and returns. Ultimately, smart ticketing can help to unlock further innovations, such as multi-buy season tickets and pay-as-you-go ticketing.

Govia Thameslink Railway: Tickets

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make part-time tickets available on the Govia Thameslink Railway franchise by 1 January 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Maynard: Officials continue to work with Govia Thameslink Railway on implementing part time season tickets and are currently discussing the enhancements to GTR’s KeyGo product that would be required to run a trial. The routes on which a trial may take place have yet to be agreed.

Railways: Tickets

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will (a) amend the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement to make part-time season tickets a requirement across all railway franchises and (b) make the provision of part-time season tickets a requirement when re-letting railway franchises.

Paul Maynard: The mechanics for the sale of rail tickets are governed by the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement (TSA), a detailed document that is maintained by the Rail Delivery Group, and any amendments are for the RDG to propose. However, I expect that the planned Rail Ombudsman will help to identify areas of the TSA where changes may be beneficial and that RDG will accordingly keep the Agreement under review. In the franchise re-letting process the Department requires a franchisee to give customers who travel to work or commute part-time a better value for money option than buying multiple return journeys.

Railway Signals: Weather

Vicky Ford: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to address railway signal failures caused by periods of very hot weather.

Paul Maynard: The resilience of the signalling system and other railway infrastructure to extreme weather conditions is the responsibility of Network Rail. With Ministers’ support, the company has developed a Weather Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation Plan for each of its eight Routes in order to understand the risks and to provide a focus for action to mitigate these. Specific measures include the roll-out of uninterruptible power supplies to help reduce signal failures, and the greater use of remote condition monitoring technology to ensure that any emerging issues are identified as soon as practicable.

East Anglia Railway Line: Repairs and Maintenance

Vicky Ford: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made on works to upgrade the overhead line between Shenfield and London Liverpool Street.

Paul Maynard: Where a need to upgrade has been identified, all the overhead wire on the line between London and Norwich has been upgraded as part of a £250m project, including the overhead line between Shenfield and London Liverpool Street.

Local Government: Private Roads

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what guidance his Department has published on local authorities adopting new private roads.

Jesse Norman: The Department published guidance on 20 April 2017. This can be viewed via the following link:www.gov.uk/government/publications/adoption-of-roads-by-highway-authorities

Govia Thameslink Railway: Tickets

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the timetable is for season tickets for part-time workers to be introduced on the Govia Thameslink Railway franchise; and what the reasons are for the time taken to implement such tickets.

Paul Maynard: Officials continue to work with Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) on implementing part time season tickets and are currently discussing the enhancements to GTR’s KeyGo product that would be required to run a trial. The routes and timescale on which any trial may take place will be agreed after those enhancements have been delivered.

Roads: North of England

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made on the trans-Pennine upgrade programme; and what the timetable is for completion.

Paul Maynard: We are currently working with Rail North and Network Rail to develop very significant improvements for rail passengers on the route from 2022. These could be the result of investment in new trains, electrification or other infrastructure work. The options will be costed by December, ahead of a decision next year.

British Transport Police: Finance

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what level of funding the British Transport Police has received to tackle anti-social behaviour on (a) trains and (b) trains stations in (i) West Yorkshire and (ii) England.

Paul Maynard: As the British Transport Police (BTP) receives its funding from individual train operators it is not possible to provide the information requested. However, BTP’s C division, which covers West Yorkshire, has a specific commitment in its policing plan to prevent anti-social behaviour.

Driving Tests: Older People

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his policy is on the introduction of compulsory re-examination driving tests for people over the age of 70.

Jesse Norman: The current driver licensing arrangements take into account the risks that an individual poses to road safety and are designed to be fair and proportionate to all drivers who remain fit and competent to drive, regardless of age. Age alone is not a reliable indicator of driving ability. However, all drivers aged 70 and over must renew their licences and make a declaration about their medical fitness to drive at least every three years. If there is evidence that a driver does not meet the appropriate medical stands, their entitlement to drive is immediately removed.

Buses: Exhaust Emissions

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the announcement of 28 August 2017 on funding for low emission buses, where those buses will be manufactured.

Jesse Norman: It will be for the individual bus operators and local councils who have been awarded funding under the Low Emission Bus Scheme to take the final decision as to which companies will manufacture the new buses and for the companies to decide where these will be manufactured.

Dartford-Thurrock Crossing

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost was of managing the Dartford River Crossing in the last financial year; and what income was received from (a) user charges and (b) penalty notices related to that crossing.

Jesse Norman: Highways England is currently finalising the Dartford River Crossing accounts for 2016/17 which will be audited by the National Audit Office in October 2017. The 2016/17 figures cannot be provided at this point.

Electric Vehicles: Infrastructure

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many publicly accessible electric car recharging points there are in the UK; and how many such points the Government estimates there will be by the end of 2017.

Jesse Norman: There are currently over 11,500 public chargepoints in the UK including over 900 rapid chargepoints, making this the largest network of rapid charging points for electric vehicles in Europe. Chargepoint provision is increasing all the time; however the Office for Low Emission Vehicles does not make detailed forecasts.

Electric Vehicles

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department's most recent estimate is of the average time taken to recharge an electric car.

Jesse Norman: The time taken to charge an electric vehicle depends on the type of charge point used and on the vehicle’s on-board charger. Charging rates vary from slow chargers which can take more than 12 hours to recharge a battery completely to rapid chargers which can recharge 80% of the battery in 20-30 minutes.

Freight: Brexit

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect on businesses using the Port of Dover and the Channel Tunnel of the reintroduction of customs procedures between the EU and the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Mr John Hayes: The Government aims to ensure that trade will continue to be as frictionless as possible, so that the effects on businesses using the Port of Dover and the Channel Tunnel are minimised. The Department for Transport is working closely with the Treasury, HMRC and other Departments towards that end. The discussion paper on Future customs arrangements, published in August, set out our positive commitment to trade with the EU and options for ensuring that the customs system is as facilitative as possible.

Motor Vehicles: Excise Duties

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what cost-benefit analysis his Department has made of eliminating paper road tax discs.

Jesse Norman: An impact assessment was published in 2014 prior to implementation, which outlined the potential costs and benefits of the change. A copy of the impact assessment can be accessed at the following link:http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2014/426

Ports: Roads

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to invest in road networks around UK ports in the next two years to prepare for the UK leaving the EU.

Jesse Norman: Highways England recently published their 2017/18 Delivery Plan which provides updates on schemes from 2015 to 2020. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/642750/Highways_England_Delivery_Plan_Update_2017-2018.pdf

Customs: Brexit

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that fluidity of movement through ports and across borders is maintained when the UK leaves the EU; and if he will make a statement.

Mr John Hayes: The Department for Transport is working closely with other Departments and in consultation with the ports and logistics industry, in order to help ensure that movement through ports and across borders is as frictionless as possible, whatever the outcome of negotiations on future arrangements for trade with the EU.

Railways: WiFi

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the availability of WiFi across the rail network.

Paul Maynard: Train Operating Companies are continuing to fit Wi-Fi on trains. Based upon the information received from Train Operating Companies on the fitment of Wi-Fi roughly 50% of trains have equipment installed, which is a two-thirds increase from the position at the start of 2016.

Public Transport: Ombudsman

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to create a Public Transport Ombudsman.

Paul Maynard: We are committed to putting passengers at the heart of everything we do and want them to have a stronger voice. As part of this, we are fully supportive of the introduction of an independent Rail Ombudsman to investigate and rule on unresolved rail passenger complaints.

Traffic Lights: Fees and Charges

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to include the ability to charge for the installation of mobile traffic lights in his proposals to allow local authorities to reclaim income from constructors for disruption to roads.

Jesse Norman: Utility companies, contractors and other works promoters already have to pay for mobile traffic lights and any other traffic management equipment that may be required for a particular work site. Not all works need mobile traffic lights. My Department published a consultation on lane rental on 2nd September. Lane rental allows local authorities to charge for works on the busiest roads at the busiest times. Charges are set to reflect the cost of congestion and disruption to road users rather than the type of traffic control used, and can be up to £2,500 per day. The consultation is open until 28th October. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/future-of-lane-rental-schemes-for-roadworks

Midland Main Railway Line: Rolling Stock

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the rolling stock which will be in operation on the Midland Mainline between 2020 and 2022 when the high speed trains are out of service and the new bi-mode trains will not yet be available.

Paul Maynard: Any rolling stock in operation between 2020 and 2022 will need to comply with the appropriate Accessibility Regulations. The public consultation for this franchise is ongoing and the response will inform the specification of the rolling stock. Future rolling stock strategy will be the responsibility of the successful bidder for the East Midlands franchise competition.

Rolling Stock

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what comparable assessment he has made of the performance and costs of bi-mode trains and electric rolling stock.

Paul Maynard: The rolling stock strategy for the East Midlands has been developed by reference to business case analysis of a range of rolling stock options including bi-modes, electric and diesel traction options. Rolling stock performance and cost are two of a range of parameters considered in this analysis. Ultimately the actual rolling stock solution for the East Midlands will be developed and implemented by the successful bidder in the current franchise competition.

Midland Main Railway Line

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the future pattern of rail services and timetabling between London and (a) Nottingham, (b) Leicester and (c) Sheffield as a result of the decision to introduce bi-mode trains on the Midland Mainline from 2022.

Paul Maynard: The East Midlands franchise public consultation is ongoing and until feedback is received from the consultation, the final detailed timetable for rail services cannot be developed. The proposals for Midland Mainline rail services between Sheffield and London St Pancras are explained within the consultation document.

Midland Main Railway Line: Electrification

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost has been to the public purse of plans to electrify the Midland Mainline north of Kettering to date.

Paul Maynard: Approximately £30m has been spent on preliminary works north of Kettering, including the raising of bridges on that part of the route. This will allow any future upgrade to be carried out with as little disruption as possible.

Midland Main Railway Line: Electrification

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the effect that the decision to cancel the electrification of the Midland Mainline will have on the economy of the East Midlands.

Paul Maynard: Network Rail is continuing to invest in the Midland Mainline in Control Period 5 and 6 with over £1bn of investment planned including electrification of the route from Bedford to Kettering and Corby and additional track capacity. The majority of the planned journey time savings will still be realised through the provision of an additional sixth long distance train path each hour, allowing the industry to make more efficient use of the infrastructure, as well as allowing higher capacity services to run. These capacity and connectivity improvements are expected to be the key driver of the economic impacts of the Midland Main Line programme. By also introducing the new fleet of bi-mode intercity trains from 2022, we are maximising the benefits of the largest upgrade of the Midland Main Line since it opened in 1870. Passengers will also see reduced journey times on long distance services from Nottingham and Sheffield by up to 20 minutes in the peak and an increase in capacity across the network.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Iran: Religious Freedom

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had over the summer recess with the Iranian authorities about the persecution of religious minorities in that country.

Alistair Burt: ​I raised concerns about the persecution of religious and ethnic minorities with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi during my visit to Tehran on 5 August.

Iran: Religious Freedom

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Iranian counterpart on the persecution of Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities in that country.

Alistair Burt: ​I raised concerns about the persecution of religious and ethnic minorities, including the detention and treatment of Christians, with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi during my visit to Tehran on 5 August.

Gary Burns

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to investigate the disappearance in Turkey of Gary Burns.

Sir Alan Duncan: We are providing consular assistance to the family of Gary Burns and are helping them to liaise with the Turkish authorities about his disappearance. So far there is no clear evidence about what might have happened.

Canada: Seals

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Canadian Government on the practice of seal hunting.

Sir Alan Duncan: An EU ban on trade in seal skin products from whitecoat harp and blueback hooded seal pups has been in place since 2007. The UK also played an active role in preparing additional EU rules on trade in seal products.The Foreign Secretary has not discussed seal hunting with the Canadian Government. However, we have made clear internationally that we oppose commercial seal hunts and support the EU ban on trade in seal products.

Brexit

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential effect on the UK's projection of soft power of the UK leaving (a) Horizon 2020, (b) the Erasmus Plus programme, (c) Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions and (d) Creative Europe; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Field: The Government is committed to enhancing the UK's position as world leader in soft power by promoting our strengths and our values globally. The UK excels in the fields of science, research, education and creativity and will continue to invest in strong relationships with our European partners.As part of the process of leaving the EU we will take informed decisions about how to deliver the policy objectives previously targeted by EU funding. While the FCO is not the lead Department for these programmes, and has made no specific assessment in relation to soft power, the Government is working closely with stakeholders to review all EU funding schemes in the round, and to ensure that any ongoing funding commitments best serve the UK's national interest.

EU Institutions: English Language

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the likely extent of the continuing use of the English language in European institutions after the UK leaves the EU.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​We have not undertaken a formal assessment on the likely use of the English language in European institutions after the UK leaves the EU. However, we fully expect English to continue to be used widely, not least because other Member States use English as an official language.

Niranjan Rasalingam

Paul Scully: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations the Government has made to the Burmese authorities on the prison sentence handed down to Niranjan Rasalingham; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Field: ​We have raised Mr Niranjan's case with the Burmese government on a number of occasions, including seeking clarity on the prison sentence handed down, and will continue to do so when appropriate. While we cannot directly intervene in the judicial process of another country, we will remain in close contact with Mr Niranjan and his lawyer as he decides what steps he wishes to take next and we will continue to provide consular assistance.

Turkey: EU External Trade

Matthew Pennycook: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he or his officials have had with the Turkish Government about that country's customs agreement with the EU.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​The UK Government will look to ensure continuity of trade between the UK and Turkey, following the UK's exit from the EU, factoring in the possible implications of Turkey's existing customs arrangement with the EU. UK officials in the Department for International Trade, the Department for Exiting the EU, the UK Permanent Representation to the EU, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have discussed EU-Turkey customs arrangements with officials of the Republic of Turkey.

Mexico: Missing Persons

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 25 July 2017 to Question 5166, on Mexico: missing persons, what response was provided by the Mexican authorities; if his Department will seek an update on actions taken since the subject was discussed; and if he will make a statement.

Sir Alan Duncan: When Baroness Anelay raised the Ayotzinapa case with Mexican Government Ministers during her visit in December, they made clear that progress in the investigation was being made, including on victim support. Some progress has also been acknowledged by the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights' (IACHR) Follow-Up Mechanism following its visits to Mexico in December and April. However, the whereabouts of the missing students and the events leading to their disappearance remain unclear.British Embassy officials have engaged with both the IACHR Mechanism and the families of those affected. We continue to call on the Mexican Government to bring the perpetrators to justice. We are also working through the Prosperity Fund to support the consolidation of Mexico's new adversarial justice system.

USA: State Visits

Christian Matheson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will arrange for President Trump to meet representatives of the Muslim and ethnic minority communities during his forthcoming official visit to the UK.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​A State Visit invitation has been offered and accepted. The precise dates and programme have yet to be confirmed. Once the dates are agreed, Government officials will begin work on the programme.

Narges Mohammadi

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect on the health and welfare of Mrs Narges Mohammadi of her imprisonment in Iran.

Alistair Burt: We are aware of reports that Mrs Mohammadi is suffering from a serious health condition requiring regular medical treatment not available in prison.Mrs Mohammadi's case demonstrates Iran's appalling record when it comes to freedom of expression and we call on Iran to cease the harassment and detention of human rights defenders in the country.

Burma: Crimes of Violence

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the accuracy of recent reports of a massacre in Chut Pyin village in the Sittwe District of Rakhine State, Myanmar.

Mark Field: ​We are deeply concerned by the situation in Rakhine State and reports of a disproportionate response by the security forces to attacks by Rohingya militants. That is why on 30 August, the UK convened a discussion on Burma at the UN Security Council, where we urged restraint and called for all parties to de-escalate tensions. Along with the de-escalation of fighting, our immediate priority is how urgent food and medical assistance can be provided to displaced civilians from all communities. Also, our Embassy in Burma visited in Sittwe two weeks ago and plan to visit again imminently.

Burma: Rohingya

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what plans his Department has to respond to recent reports of the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya people in Rakhine State, Myanmar.

Mark Field: The British Government continues to discuss the situation in Rakhine with the Government of Burma. On 7 September, the Foreign Secretary called State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi to raise our strong concerns about Rakhine. They agreed any human rights abuses or violations must be investigated urgently. Our Ambassador continues to engage with officials from the Burmese Foreign Ministry on the full range of challenges facing Rakhine State.On 30 August the UK convened a discussion on Burma at the UN Security Council. The UK urged the security forces in Rakhine to show restraint and called for all parties to de-escalate tensions. The Foreign Secretary released a statement on 2 September calling for an end to the violence. Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon made a statement at the 36th session of the Human Rights Council on 11 September which made clear that the UK strongly condemned the violence, and called on all parties to de-escalate tensions and address the humanitarian crisis.

Mohammad Ali Taheri

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the case of the continuing imprisonment in Iran and repeated trial on charges which carry the death penalty of Mohammad Ali Taheri.

Alistair Burt: The case against Mohammad Ali Taheri demonstrates Iranian disregard for freedom of religion and belief. Religious minorities continue to face restrictions in Iran and we receive many reports of arrests, discrimination and harassment.I raised concerns about the persecution of religious and ethnic minorities during my visit to Iran on 5 August. We will continue to take action with the international community to hold Iran to account in this regard.

Saudi Arabia: Capital Punishment

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Saudi Arabian counterpart on the cases of Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoon and Abdullah al-Zaher.

Alistair Burt: The UK remains concerned about the cases of Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoon and Abdullah al-Zaher. Our Embassy in Riyadh last raised the three men's cases on 27 July. Our expectation remains that they will not be executed. We continue to closely follow their cases.

Iran: Baha'i Faith

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of trends in number of people of the Baha'i faith persecuted in Iran (a) between 2005 and 2013 and (b) since the coming to power of President Hassan Rouhani in August 2013.

Alistair Burt: ​The UK Government does not hold historical data on the number of Baha'is detained or persecuted in Iran. The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran estimates that, as of March 2017, there were 90 Baha'is detained in Iran, all for charges related to their religious belief and practices.

Baha'i Faith: Human Rights

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions the Government has had with the (a) UK Baha'i community and (b) Baha'i international community about the human rights situation of people of the Baha'i faith in (i) Iran, (ii) Egypt and (iii) other countries.

Alistair Burt: ​I met representatives of the Baha'i community on 13 July during which I discussed the human rights situation of followers of the Baha'i faith in Iran and Yemen.

Iran: Baha'i Faith

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate the Government has made of the number of (a) British and (b) other nationals of Baha'i faith who have been (i) detained, (ii) sentenced to imprisonment, (iii) murdered, (iv) executed and (v) persecuted in other ways in Iran in each year since 2005.

Alistair Burt: ​The UK Government does not hold historical data on the number of Baha'is detained or persecuted in Iran. The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran estimates that, as of March 2017, there were 90 Baha'is detained in Iran, all for charges related to their religious belief and practices.

Iran: Baha'i Faith

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations the Government has made at (a) an EU and (b) a UN level on the persecution of people of the Baha'i faith in Iran.

Alistair Burt: ​We regularly discuss concerns about the human rights situation in Iran, including the persecution of followers of the Baha'i faith, with our EU and other international partners in both Tehran and in Brussels. In the UN we continue to lead efforts to encourage Iran to improve its human rights record. For example, in March 2017 at the UN Human Rights Council, we highlighted persecution of Baha'is during the dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran.

Iran: Baha'i Faith

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations (a) the British Ambassador to Iran, (b) Ministers and (c) British consular officials have made to their Iranian counterparts on the persecution of people of the Baha'i faith in Iran.

Alistair Burt: ​I raised concerns about the persecution of religious and ethnic minorities, including the persecution of followers of the Baha'i faith, with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi during my visit to Tehran on 5 August.

Egypt: Baha'i Faith

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations (a) the British Ambassador to Egypt, (b) Ministers and (c) British consular officials have made to their Egyptian counterparts on the human rights situation of people of the Baha'i faith in Egypt.

Alistair Burt: The UK Government is clear that Freedom of Religion or Belief needs to be protected and the ability to worship in peace is a vital component of a democratic society. We deplore all discrimination against religious minorities and constraints on their freedom to practise their faith. We recognise the challenges faced by the Baha'i community in Egypt.The Government of Egypt has stated its commitment to protecting the rights of minorities and the need for freedom of worship, and the Egyptian constitution contains protection for Freedom of Religion or Belief. Senior Foreign and Commonwealth officials regularly raise Freedom of Religion or Belief with the Government of Egypt. We continue to call on governments across the region, including Egypt, to ensure that Freedom of Religion or Belief is respected for all, including members of the Baha'i faith.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Assets

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, in which of the last 10 years his Department has submitted a strategic asset management plan to the Government Property Unit.

Alistair Burt: The Government Property Unit (GPU) has only commissioned three Strategic Annual Management Plans (SAMPs) from Government departments, on an annual basis, since 2014.The Foreign and Commonwealth Office submitted a SAMP to the GPU in 2015 and in 2016. The SAMP for 2017 is being completed.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Arms Length External Organisations

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of new arms-length bodies his Department plans to establish once the UK has left the EU.

Sir Alan Duncan: An estimate of the number of arms-length bodies that will be established on our exit from the EU will be undertaken as the negotiations with the EU proceed.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Cybercrime

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the principle set out in paragraph 5.3.6 of the Government's Cyber Security Strategy that everyone who works in government has a sound awareness of cyber risk applies to members of staff employed by contractors doing work procured by his Department.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​It does.

Venezuela: Sanctions

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will impose sanctions on President Maduro and other high-ranking Venezuelan Government officials.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​​The UK does not have its own domestic sanctions regime but does act with the international community to implement UN and EU sanctions such as those on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. We will continue working with partners, including EU Member States and those in the region, to consider a wide range of options, including sanctions.

Hong Kong: Political Prisoners

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on the imprisonment of three protestors involved in the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement of 2014.

Mark Field: During my visit to Hong Kong on 23/24 August, I discussed this case with the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Carrie Lam. During my meeting, I stressed the UK's commitment to the Sino-British Joint Declaration and 'One Country, Two Systems'. I also made clear that it is essential that Hong Kong enjoys, and is seen to enjoy, the full measure of its high degree of autonomy and commitment to the rule of law enshrined in the Joint Declaration and Basic Law. On 17 August an FCO spokesperson issued a statement on the case, which said that "the UK remains a staunch supporter of the right to peaceful protest and we believe it is vital that Hong Kong's young people have a voice in politics. Hong Kong's way of life is underpinned by its rule of law. We note the decision reached by the Court of Appeal on the case of Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow and we hope the decision on this case will not discourage legitimate protest in the future."

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Brexit

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which EU legislation within his Department's responsibilities will (a) be incorporated into UK law through the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill and (b) require to be amended under powers in that Bill.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill will convert European Union law into UK law as it applies in the UK at the moment of exit. This will ensure that, wherever possible, the same rules and laws will apply the day after exit as they did before.The Government is still making a detailed assessment of what corrections will be required to make that law function appropriately on exit day.

World Trade Organisation

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate has been made of the level of representation the UK will require at the World Trade Organisation and the cost of that representation once the UK has left the EU.

Mark Field: ​The United Kingdom is a founding member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and is represented at the WTO by Julian Braithwaite, our Ambassador and Permanent Representative in Geneva. The Government is increasing the size of the WTO team at the UK Mission to the UN in Geneva, including to support this work on the UK’s draft schedules. It will ensure that the Mission has the resources to enable the UK to play a full, active and leading role in the multilateral trading system as we leave the European Union.

Papua: Human Rights

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the Indonesian Government during the Parliamentary summer recess on human rights violations in West Papua.

Mark Field: ​During the summer recess, officials from the British Embassy in Jakarta visited Papua and met local Government officials, senior police officers and civil society. Papua was also discussed in Jakarta in June during a meeting about the Human Rights Council and Indonesia's Universal Periodic Review process at the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Papua: Political Prisoners

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the trends in the numbers of political prisoners in West Papua.

Mark Field: Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have noted that the trend relating to political prisoners in Papua is positive and have acknowledged the progress made by the Indonesian government. At present Human Rights Watch believe there are up to 5 Papuans considered political prisoners yet to be released. This compares to 37 at the end of August 2016.

Burma: Human Rights

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with (a) the UN and (b) EU authorities on human rights abuses in Myanmar.

Mark Field: The British Government co-sponsored a Resolution at the Human Rights Council in March 2017 which established a Fact Finding Mission to look into allegations of human rights violations by military and security forces following the outbreak of violence in Rakhine State late last year. We urge the Burmese authorities to cooperate with the Mission, including by facilitating a visit to Burma. We stand ready to provide any support necessary.On 30 August, the UK convened a discussion on Burma at the UN Security Council following the recent escalation of violence in Rakhine State. The UK urged the security forces in Rakhine to show restraint and called on all parties to de-escalate tensions. The Foreign Secretary, released a statement on 2 September calling for an end to the violence. Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon made a statement at the Human Rights Committee on 11 September which made clear that the UK strongly condemned the violence, and called on all parties to de-escalate tensions and address the Humanitarian crises.We continue to discuss with EU partners the situation in Rakhine.Our immediate priority is how urgent food and medical assistance can be provided to affected civilians from all communities.

Burma: Diplomatic Relations

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what diplomatic engagements there have been between the UK and Myanmar over the parliamentary summer recess; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Field: The Minister of State for International Development, my, friend the Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP visited Burma in July 2017, and I intend to make a visit during the next few weeks, during the conference recess. The Government has recently put its position on record in the House of Commons, responding to an urgent question on the situation in Rakhine State on 5 September.

Conflict, Stability and Security Fund

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the geographic and thematic priorities will be for future work supported by the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund.

Rory Stewart: The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) has multi-year and annual year programmes, which go through an annual allocations process. We are currently in the middle of this process for Financial Year 18/19.However the CSSF's Annual Report for the Financial Year 16/17 lists all the countries, regions and themes we worked on that year. It is available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/conflict-stability-and-security-fund-cssf.

Burma: Freedom of Expression

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has raised the increasing restrictions on freedom of expression in Burma with the Government of Burma.

Mark Field: ​The Foreign Secretary raised the UK's concerns about Freedom of Expression with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi during her visit to the UK in May 2017.

Qatar: Muslim Brotherhood

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterpart in Qatar on the funding of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Alistair Burt: The UK Government regularly raises a range of issues with Qatar. The most recent discussion about the Muslim Brotherhood was by senior officials on 7 June.

Egypt: Corruption

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Egyptian counterpart on allegations of corruption in that country.

Alistair Burt: The UK Government firmly believes corruption is at the heart of many of the world’s problems and we support Egyptian Government efforts to counter corruption. The UK is actively engaged with the World Bank’s Country Partnership Framework for Egypt, whose interventions will assist in reducing corruption in the country.The UK continues to hold a number of assets belonging to persons identified as responsible for misappropriation of Egyptian state funds under the 2011 EU sanctions regime, and we will continue to support anti-corruption efforts in Egypt.

Kamal Foroughi

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on how many occasions the UK Ambassador to Iran has had discussions with the Iranian Government on Kamal Foroughi since his appointment; and what recent progress has been made on securing his release.

Alistair Burt: Our Ambassador in Tehran raises the cases of our British/Iranian dual national detainees, including Mr Kamal Foroughi, at every opportunity as part of his regular discussions with the Iranian Government. This happened most recently on 30 August. I also raised the cases of our dual national detainees with the Iranian Foreign Minister and Deputy Foreign Minister when I visited Tehran on 5 August. While Iran does not recognise dual nationality and regards them as Iranian, we consider them British and will continue to raise these cases and request consular access.

State Visits: USA

Christian Matheson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what benefits he anticipates will accrue to the British public from President Trump's forthcoming official visit to the UK.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​The United States is one of our closest allies and a Presidential visit is an opportunity to further advance that important relationship. It remains in the UK's public interest to work closely with the US on a range of foreign, security and trade policy issues.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department has received from sub-lets on its estate in each year since 2010.

Alistair Burt: We have not received any income from sub-let leasehold properties on our UK estate since 2010.We receive some income on our overseas estate from sub-letting leasehold properties but it would not be possible to provide the information requested without incurring disproportionate cost.

Burma: Rohingya

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of (a) the security situation, (b) human rights and (c) religious freedom in the state of Rohingya, Burma.

Mark Field: Holding answer received on 11 September 2017



The British Government continues to discuss the situation in Rakhine with the Government of Burma. On 7 September, the Foreign Secretary called State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi to raise our strong concerns about Rakhine. They agreed any human rights abuses or violations must be investigated urgently. Our Ambassador continues to engage with officials from the Burmese Foreign Ministry on the full range of challenges facing Rakhine State.On 30 August the UK convened a discussion on Burma at the UN Security Council. The UK urged the security forces in Rakhine to show restraint and called for all parties to de-escalate tensions. The Foreign Secretary released a statement on 2 September calling for an end to the violence. Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon made a statement at the 36th session of the Human Rights Council on 11 September which made clear that the UK strongly condemned the violence, and called on all parties to de-escalate tensions and address the humanitarian crisis

Islamic State: International Criminal Court

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the International Criminal Court to reconsider its decision not to open a preliminary examination into crimes committed by Daesh.

Alistair Burt: ​In her press statement of 8 April 2015, the ICC Prosecutor set out some of the complicated issues associated with any potential investigation of Daesh by the ICC. The UK fully respects the independence of the ICC Prosecutor in this matter. On 14 August 2017, the Government of Iraq wrote to the UN Secretary General, requesting support to hold Daesh accountable for their crimes. The UK is working with the UN Security Council to deliver this support.

Iraq: International Criminal Court

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the Government of Iraq to ratify the Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court.

Alistair Burt: The UK is a strong supporter of the International Criminal Court (ICC). As a state party to the Rome Statute the UK has a fully cooperative relationship with the ICC and regular discussions on a range of issues.The UK encourages non-state parties to accede to the Rome Statute. We are happy to offer support to any State that is in the process of ratifying the Rome Statute or needs assistance in adopting the national legislation needed to enact the Rome Statute.

Burma: Rohingya

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with (a) Aung San Suu Kyi and (b) officials from the Burmese Foreign Ministry on (i) the security situation, (ii) human rights and (iii) religious freedom in the state of Rohingya, Burma.

Mark Field: Holding answer received on 11 September 2017



The British Government continues to discuss the situation in Rakhine with the Government of Burma. On 7 September, the Foreign Secretary called State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi to raise our strong concerns about Rakhine. They agreed any human rights abuses or violations must be investigated urgently. Our Ambassador continues to engage with officials from the Burmese Foreign Ministry on the full range of challenges facing Rakhine State.On 30 August the UK convened a discussion on Burma at the UN Security Council. The UK urged the security forces in Rakhine to show restraint and called for all parties to de-escalate tensions. The Foreign Secretary released a statement on 2 September calling for an end to the violence. Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon made a statement at the 36th session of the Human Rights Council on 11 September which made clear that the UK strongly condemned the violence, and called on all parties to de-escalate tensions and address the humanitarian crisis.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department has paid in letting fees for its estate in each year since 2010.

Alistair Burt: We are not aware of any letting fees on our UK estate since 2010.Overseas, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office runs an estate in over 270 locations worldwide. It would not be possible to provide the information requested on overseas properties without incurring disproportionate cost.

Saudi Arabia: Antisemitism

Mr Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in Saudia Arabia on antisemitism.

Alistair Burt: The UK Government strongly supports the right to freedom of religion or belief. Saudi Arabia remains a Foreign and Commonwealth Office human rights priority country due to restrictions on the freedom of religion or belief and we raise this at every appropriate opportunity.

Iran: Human Rights

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Iranian counterparts on the report to the 34th Session of the UN Human Rights Council by Ms Asma Jahaigir, on human rights violations in that country in 1988.

Alistair Burt: The British Government opposes the use of the death penalty in all circumstances and takes any allegations of extrajudicial killings seriously. Whilst at present we have no plans to raise the 1988 executions, we continue to take action with the international community by pressing for improvements on all human rights issues in Iran, including ending the death penalty, and by supporting the work done by the Special Rapporteur.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Adam Smith International

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much funding from the public purse has been paid by his Department to Adam Smith International since March 2017; how much of that funding is classified as Official Development Assistance; and whether his Department has (a) signed any new contracts or (b) extended existing contracts with Adam Smith International since March 2017.

Sir Alan Duncan: Holding answer received on 11 September 2017



The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has paid Adam Smith International £12.1m since 1 April 2017 across six contracts, funding projects in high priority countries affected by conflict in the Middle East, East Africa and South Asia. The FCO has extended three of those contracts since 1 April 2017. All of this funding is Official Development Assistance. The extended programmes will be retendered later this year. The Department has not signed any new contracts.

Mexico: Magna Carta Fund for Human Rights and Democracy

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will publish a list of projects in Mexico that (a) have been funded by the Magna Carta Fund between 2015 and 2017 and (b) will be funded through that Fund in 2017 and 2018.

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much funding from the Magna Carta Fund was spent in Mexico in (a) 2015 and (b) 2016; and what estimate he has made of the level of such funding to be spent in (i) 2017 and (ii) 2018.

Sir Alan Duncan: All Official Development Assistance programme data up to June 2016 is publicly available on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/official-development-assistance-oda--2#oda-spend-documents:-fco-strategic-and-bilateral-programme-spend. The Magna Carta Fund was launched in January 2016 to fund projects from Financial Year (FY) 2016/17 and onwards. Prior to that, our fund for Human Rights and Democracy provided activity under similar terms in Mexico. We funded one Magna Carta Fund project during FY 2016/17, spending £154,972. No Magna Carta Fund projects have been funded for Mexico in FY 2017-18. Funding for 2018/19 is still to be determined.

Saudi Arabia: Politics and Government

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on the shelling of Awamiyah, Saudi Arabia; what representations he has made to the Saudi Government on that matter; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: The British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia discussed the operation in Awamiyah with Saudi authorities on 26 July, including measures to guard against civilian casualties. We continue to monitor the situation.

Yemen: UN Resolutions

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with Matthew Rycroft, the UK's Permanent Ambassador to the UN, on a new UN Security Council resolution on Yemen.

Alistair Burt: I refer to my answer of 20 July (PQ 4676): we welcome the agreement on 15 June of a Presidential Statement, sponsored by the UK as penholder, which called upon the parties to the conflict to agree the modalities for a ceasefire, take steps to address the humanitarian crisis, and restart political talks. We are now working urgently with our international and regional partners to ensure that the Security Council's words are converted into action.

Yemen: Airports

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in Saudi Arabia on re-opening Sana'a Airport.

Alistair Burt: The Foreign Secretary last met the Saudi Foreign Minister on 5 September. He raised bilateral and regional issues, including ending the conflict in Yemen and the need for the urgent provision of humanitarian access, in line with the UN Security Council statement of 15 June, which called for increased access to Sana'a Airport.

Free Trade: Gibraltar

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to establish a free trade area between the UK and Gibraltar after the UK leaves the EU.

Sir Alan Duncan: At the most recent Joint Ministerial Council (Gibraltar Europe Negotiations) in July, the Government agreed to continue to work closely with HM Government of Gibraltar on a range of economic issues as the UK prepares to leave the EU.We are steadfast in our support of Gibraltar, its people and its economy. The UK is committed to involving Gibraltar fully as we prepare for negotiations to leave the EU, to ensure that their priorities are taken properly into account.

Department for International Development

Department for International Development: Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether requests for consultancy and temporary staff for the her Department must be accompanied by a formal business case.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of requests for consultancy and temporary staff for her Department were approved via a resource board.

Rory Stewart: Within DFID’s approved workforce plans, temporary staff may be appointed on fixed term contracts if there is a need. Any additional resourcing needs, including consultancy and temporary staff, must be approved on the basis of a business case.

Global Learning Programme

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans she has for the future of the Global Learning programme.

Alistair Burt: The Global Learning Programme comes to an end in July 2018. We are currently consulting on potential future work on development education, with a focus on increasing impact and better engaging UK citizens in tackling poverty and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

EU Aid

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether it is her policy that the UK should continue to participate in the Europe Aid Development Awareness programme after the UK leaves the EU.

Alistair Burt: There will be no decisions on future UK/EU policy until the Government’s negotiations on exiting the EU have concluded.

Development Aid: Education

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans she has for the future of development awareness education.

Alistair Burt: DFID remains committed to development education in the UK. We are currently consulting on potential future work on development education, with a focus on increasing impact and better engaging UK citizens in tackling poverty and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Libya: Human Trafficking

Paul Masterton: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to support the victims of human trafficking and exploitation in Libya.

Alistair Burt: The Department for International Development (DFID) is providing assistance to refugees and migrants at risk of trafficking and exploitation in Libya. So far this year, DFID has supported more than 20,000 emergency interventions such as healthcare, psychosocial support, hygiene kits and safe shelter. The UK Government is also assisting vulnerable migrants with voluntary returns from Libya – so far our support has helped more than 1,200 individuals to return home.The UK government continues to support the Libyan authorities to tackle smuggling and organised immigration crime. We also continue to press for refugees and migrants in Libya to be treated in accordance with international norms and standards.

Palestinians: Development Aid

Paul Masterton: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much development funding was provided by her Department to the Palestinian Authority in each of the last five financial years; what organisations were so funded; and what the objectives of that funding were.

Alistair Burt: The UK provides direct financial aid to the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Finance and Planning to contribute to the salaries of vetted public servants. A breakdown of funding by financial years is below:BeneficiaryPurpose2012/132013/142014/152015/162016/17Ministry of Finance and PlanningFor financial years 2012/13 – 2015/16, UK funding contributed to public servants salaries through the EU PEGASE mechanism. In 2016/17 UK funding was specifically earmarked for West Bank health and education public servants salaries.£34.1 million£41.6 million£22 million£24.8 million£25 million

Palestinians: Development Aid

Paul Masterton: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what safeguards her Department has in place to ensure that international development funding to the Palestinian Authority is not used for the payment of terror salaries or associated purposes.

Alistair Burt: UK financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority is provided through a European Union mechanism. It pays for vetted West Bank health and education public servants. The EU mechanism uses a pre- and post-verification system which validates that the funds transferred into a dedicated sub-account for UKaid and spent on the salaries of eligible beneficiaries on a vetted list. The PA payroll is checked by independent auditors, and payments made to all eligible beneficiaries are traced through the verification process.

Kenya: Infrastructure

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assistance the Government has given to Kenya for infrastructure, railways and roads in each of the last five years.

Rory Stewart: In Kenya, the Department for International Development has supported development of Kenyan transport systems, including railways and roads, to improve the speed and efficiency of transport and trading routes. Financial disbursements have been as follows: Year20122013/1420152016Total (£)Amount (£)3,900,00014,600,0006,500,00016,700,00041,700,000

Forests: Conservation

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department has spent on forest conservation projects overseas in the last five years for which figures are available.

Rory Stewart: DFID delivers bilateral forest programmes focused on tackling illegal logging and related corruption, encouraging sustainable trade based on legal and sustainable supplies of timber and agricultural commodities, and improving the livelihoods of indigenous people and local communities which depend on forests for their livelihoods. DFID also funds multilateral programmes which promote forest conservation and management, including through the Green Climate Fund, Global Environment Facility and the Forest Investment Programme.DFID funding for forest conservation and management was £38m in FY12-13, £44m in FY13-14, £170m in FY14-15, £75m in FY15-16 and £69m in FY16-17, including bilateral programmes and multilateral contributions.

Marine Environment: Conservation

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department has spent on marine conservation projects overseas in the last five years for which figures are available.

Rory Stewart: The Department supports marine conservation activities overseas through our funding to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). For example FAO hosts the International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter, and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing. The GEF has funded marine protected areas across the world that are more than twice the size of Alaska.The UK’s core support to FAO in the past five years was a total of £92 million, comprising £42 million in 2012/13, £32 million in 2014/15 and £18 million in 2016/17. DFID’s contribution to the Global Environment Facility in the past five years was £262.5 million, comprising £52.5 million per year for each of the financial years from 2012 to 2016 inclusive. Neither FAO nor the GEF publish a breakdown of spending specifically on marine conservation.

Department for International Development: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department has paid in letting fees for its estate in each year since 2010.

Rory Stewart: DFID has not paid any letting fees.

Department for International Development: Procurement

Stephen Kerr: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, which companies, charities and social enterprises in Stirling constituency supply goods and services to her Department.

Rory Stewart: No companies, charities or social enterprises in the Stirling constituency have a direct contract with DFID to supply goods or services.

Rwanda: Overseas Aid

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to monitor the use of UK Foreign Aid in Rwanda.

Rory Stewart: All UK aid in Rwanda is earmarked for specific programmes only, such as education and agriculture, and is subject to robust monitoring to ensure results and value for money for the UK taxpayer. Our aid helps to lift a quarter of a million Rwandans out of poverty every year.

Department for International Development: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department has received from sub-lets on its estate in each year since 2010.

Rory Stewart: DFID does not receive any income from sub-lets.

Department for International Development: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many procurements undertaken by her Department have taken more than (a) three months, (b) six months, (c) one year and (d) two years.

Rory Stewart: The timescales for procurements over the OJEU threshold (£106K) awarded in the last two financial years can be found in the attached.   



PQ 8760 attachment 
(Word Document, 22.22 KB)

Burma: Humanitarian Aid

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that sufficient food and medical assistance is being provided to the displaced civilians of Rakine State.

Alistair Burt: The UK has long been one of the biggest contributors of humanitarian aid for the displaced population in Rakhine State. We have provided over £30 million in humanitarian assistance since 2012, including food and sanitation for over 126,000 people. In the current context access to the worst affected populations is seriously constrained. We are working at the highest levels with the government, other donors and the UN to improve access and ensure that aid reaches those that need it most. DFID has also committed £10.9 million to meet the needs of displaced Rohingya and the host communities who support them in Bangladesh. The UK Government is deeply concerned about the violence against the Rohingya and other communities in Burma’s Rakhine State, and the plight of thousands fleeing their homes.

Overseas Aid

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of the international aid budget has been spent on (a) disaster relief and (b) refugee assistance in each of the last five years.

Rory Stewart: The amount of UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) spent on humanitarian assistance in each of the last 5 years is set out in the table below. In line with the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) classification, this includes expenditure on emergency response, reconstruction relief and rehabilitation, and disaster prevention and preparedness.This expenditure covers humanitarian support overseas to both refugees and non-refugees. Detailed data is not collected to separately identify expenditure overseas solely on refugees. UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) for Humanitarian Assistance and support to refugees 2010 -2015, £ million YearHumanitarian Assistance1,3 Total (£ million) 2011639 2012558 20131,005 20141,347 20151,496Information on total UK ODA is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/572063/statistics-on-international-development-2016a.pdf. Source: Statistics on International DevelopmentTable notes:1.The definition for humanitarian assistance and support to refugees in the UK is set internationally by the OECD DAC.2.Covering basic costs only for the first year of stay in the UK.3.The figures for humanitarian assistance and refugee costs cover UK bilateral and multilateral aid.

Caribbean: Hurricanes and Tornadoes

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to support those affected by Hurricane Irma.

Alistair Burt: The Prime Minister has made available £32million to support those affected by Hurricane Irma and a cross-Government response has been stood up. DFID has sent more than 40 metric tonnes of UKaid to the region including thousands of shelter kits and of solar lanterns. More supplies will be arriving throughout the month. We are also working with the Overseas Territories institutions to understand how we will move from disaster response to early recovery and long-term reconstruction. The Government will continue to do all it can to support those affected. Further details of our work are available on our website https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-international-development

Caribbean: Hurricanes and Tornadoes

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with her counterparts in the Overseas Territories and other Caribbean states on the humanitarian response to Hurricane Irma.

Alistair Burt: Government Ministers are in daily contact with the Governors of the Overseas Territories affected by Hurricane Irma as well as with our partners in the region. We are coordinating closely on needs assessments and getting UKaid in affected areas.

Caribbean: Hurricanes and Tornadoes

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with her counterpart in the US on the provision of humanitarian assistance to those territories and states affected by Hurricane Irma.

Alistair Burt: The Secretary of State for International Development spoke to her US counterpart Mark Andrew Green on 11th September and our teams are coordinating closely on the response effort to territories and states affected by Hurricane Irma.

Department for International Development: Disclosure of Information

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to promote whistleblowing in her Department.

Rory Stewart: The Department for International Development (DFID) has a robust process in place for reporting and managing all whistleblowing concerns. This process was recently refreshed to ensure it remains in line with Cabinet Office standards and recommended best practice. The process is managed independently by DFID’s internal audit department and has been designed to give confidence to all stakeholders to raise concerns, in line with the open and transparent culture that DFID has sought to create.The whistleblowing reporting process is set out clearly on DFID’s external website (Reporting Fraud) and in more detail within the department’s internal intranet, accessible by all staff. DFID has made civil service e-learning on fraud modules mandatory for all staff and has embedded fraud awareness components across many of its core training interventions. DFID has appointed a dedicated fraud resource across the department’s country office network to support staff on an on-going basis and keep the profile of whistleblowing high.In additional to the regular awareness raising activities undertaken, DFID played an active role in publicising the cross civil service whistleblowing awareness week in 2016 and will do so again during September 2017.

Department for Education

Disadvantaged: EU Grants and Loans

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how the Government has allocated funds from the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived in each of the last three years.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The UK allocation from the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) was €3.94m for the 2014-20 period. In 2014, the Government indicated that because the UK allocation from the fund is deducted from our European Social Fund and the European Regional Development Fund allocations, it would minimise the adverse impact on those funds by taking the lowest possible allocation. In 2014, the Government announced that its FEAD allocation would be used to expand breakfast club provision in deprived areas in England. The Department for Education received interim funding of €433,912.60 in 2014 in advance of the scheme commencing. This is the only payment we have received.After we had publicly committed to the scheme in 2014, the EC began detailed discussions on the regulations which govern how the money can be spent. It has since become clear that our original vision for how to use this funding cannot comply with the EC’s eligibility requirements for the fund. We are therefore discussing with Her Majesty’s Treasury about how we can best apply this money before we leave the European Union.The Government has delivered significantly higher funding for breakfast clubs than that envisaged by the FEAD. DfE ran a two year £1.1m programme which ended in March 2016 which saw breakfast clubs implemented in 184 schools with a high proportion of disadvantaged pupils. In the 2016 Budget, the Chancellor announced further funding of £10m a year to set up breakfast clubs in up to 1600 schools. Further details of the programme will be announced in due course.

Students: Loans

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to introduce the legislative proposals for the establishment of a Sharia-compliant alternative finance product based on the Takaful model before September 2018.

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on the establishment of a Sharia-compliant alternative finance product based on the Takaful model.

Joseph Johnson: We are now working to deliver an alternative student finance system following the passage of Higher Education and Research Act 2017. We will be engaging with experts in Islamic Finance on the detail of the regulations, processes, IT and accounting systems that will be needed to create the new set of alternative student finance products. This detailed work will be complex but we remain keen to introduce the new alternative system as soon as we feasibly can. We will announce more detailed plans in due course.

Students: Disadvantaged

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 49 of the Social Mobility Commission's report, Time for Change: an assessment of government policies on social mobility 1997-2017, published on 28 June 2017, what assessment she has made of the level of (a) retention and (b) graduate outcomes among students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Joseph Johnson: Application rates to Higher Education by disadvantaged 18-year-olds in England are at record levels and retention rates for this group, as well as mature, and BME students are higher than they were in 2010. According to HEFCE data (http://www.hefce.ac.uk/analysis/ncr/nhe/), we have seen non-continuation rates for the most disadvantaged students fall from 9.3% in 2009/10 to 8.8% in 2015/16. There has also been an increase in the rate of those on free school meals entering HE by age 19, up from 18% in 2009/10 to 24% in 2014/15 (the most recent year for which data is available). Graduates on average earn comfortably over £100K more over their lifetime, and 73% of those from less advantaged backgrounds are employed in the most advantaged occupational groups six months after graduating.There is more to do, and this Government has put in place actions to make further progress. Retention rates and graduate outcomes are both core metrics of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). The TEF explicitly assesses providers on how well they are delivering positive outcomes for students from disadvantaged groups and this is reflected in the rating that providers receive.The Higher Education and Research Act 2017 requires institutions to publish admissions and retention data by gender, ethnicity and socio-economic background. This greater transparency will help the sector make further progress to build on its achievements so far. The new regulatory framework for Higher Education and the Office for Students (OfS) will put students at the heart of the OfS’ remit. The OfS will have a statutory duty to promote equality of opportunity across the whole lifecycle for disadvantaged students, not just access. As a result, widening access and participation for students from disadvantaged backgrounds will be at the core of OfS functions.

Social Mobility

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 77 of the Social Mobility Commission's report, Time for Change: an assessment of government policies on social mobility 1997-2017, published on 28 June 2017, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of the increase in the reliance on formal qualifications in some professions on the accessibility of those professions to people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The government is committed to supporting all young people to access good careers.We are improving access to, and the quality of, formal qualifications and training routes. We are investing over half a billion pounds a year of new funding for technical education, centred around T-levels, a set of 15 high-quality technical routes based on employer-designed standards. We are increasing the quality and quantity of apprenticeships to reach our commitment of 3 million apprenticeships by 2020 and making available around £60million to support take-up by individuals from disadvantaged areas. We are also increasing numbers of traineeships to support young people, including those from areas of disadvantage, into apprenticeships and work.We know that education alone cannot transform social mobility. We support the Social Mobility Employer Index, which celebrates those employers leading the way in opening up access and progression. These employers are already taking important steps to engage young people, introduce fairer recruitment practices, and manage talent.

Work Experience: Disadvantaged

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to pages 77-78 of the Social Mobility Commission's report, Time for Change: an assessment of government policies on social mobility 1997-2017, published on 28 June 2017, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of (a) internships, (b) unpaid internships and (c) unadvertised internships on the accessibility of some jobs to people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Mr Robert Goodwill: We know that government alone cannot transform social mobility. Employers play an important role by ensuring fair access to the workplace. The best employers are already taking some important steps, including engaging and supporting young people in schools, introducing fairer recruitment practices, removing barriers, opening up alternative routes to entry, and monitoring progress – but there is more to be done to ensure that background is not a barrier to a good career. That is why we support the Social Mobility Employer Index, which celebrates those employers leading the way in opening up access and progression. The government recognises concerns about exploitation of interns and we are clear that this is unacceptable. We will act where we find that employment law has been broken and someone who is entitled to the minimum wage has not been paid it.

Further Education: Disabled Students' Allowances

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to introduce a disabled student's allowance for students in further education.

Anne Milton: We provide Learning Support funding to Further Education colleges and providers to help them meet the additional needs of learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and meet the costs of reasonable adjustments as set out in the Equality Act 2010.Learning Support can cover a range of requirements including, for example, an assessment for dyslexia, funding to pay for specialist equipment or helpers and arranging signers or note takers. Additional learner support also exists to directly help disadvantaged learners help meet associated learning costs such as childcare, travel and books.

Child Rearing

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 18 of the Social Mobility Commission's report, Time for Change: an assessment of government policies on social mobility 1997-2017, published on 28 June 2017, what assessment she has made of the effect on social mobility of changes to funding of programmes that are aimed at parents.

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 27 of the Social Mobility Commission's report, Time for Change: an assessment of government policies on social mobility 1997-2017, published on 28 June 2017, what assessment she has made of the effect of the level of resources available to local authorities on their allocation of funding to parenting programmes.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Funding for children’s services, which may include parenting programmes and support, is non-ring-fenced and part of the wider local government finance settlement to give local authorities the flexibility to focus on locally determined priorities. It is for local authorities to determine how to spend this and other sources of income on the services they provide. They do so taking account local need, priorities, and of course their statutory responsibilities.

Child Rearing

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 27 of the Social Mobility Commission's report, Time for Change: an assessment of government policies on social mobility 1997-2017, published on 28 June 2017, what assessment she has made of the effect of a wide range of choices for parents on the uptake of vouchers for parenting programmes.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Department for Education (DfE) funded the CANparent trial between April 2012 and March 2014 and trialled the use of vouchers for parenting programmes in three of the areas of the country. An evaluation of the DfE-funded trial found that:While “voucher distributors and some other stakeholders spoke of parents being confused by the range of providers and types of courses on offer” by autumn 2013 “half (49%) of households that had received a voucher had already signed up to a class or were intending to sign up to a class”. The full evaluation of the DfE trial is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/canparent-trial-evaluation-final-report.In April 2014, the Department of Health (DH) took responsibility for CANParent and ran a modified version of the trial (without a voucher element) for a third and final year. An evaluation of the DH-funded trial is available at: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/cedar/canuniversalparentingevaluation/trialevaluation/.

Children: Day Care

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to pages 25-26 of the Social Mobility Commission's report, Time for Change: an assessment of government policies on social mobility 1997-2017, published on 28 June 2017, what assessment she has made of the effect of the level of pay on the number of qualified professionals in the childcare sector.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Department for Education does not set pay and conditions for early years professionals employed in private and voluntary sector organisations, which is the majority of the early years workforce.The Early Years Workforce strategy published in March 2017 is intended to support the early years sector to remove barriers to attracting, retaining and developing the early years workforce.

Social Mobility

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 25 of the Social Mobility Commission's report, Time for Change: an assessment of government policies on social mobility 1997-2017, published on 28 June 2017, what assessment she has made of the consistency in the range of available qualifications for early years professionals.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Early Years initial teacher training (EYITT) is a graduate-level qualification introduced in September 2013, building on its predecessor the Early Years Professional Status. We set standards, the Teachers’ Standards (Early Years), for this programme, which all trainees must meet to be awarded Early Years Teacher Status. This training is delivered by accredited initial teacher training providers and is inspected by Ofsted to ensure consistency. Following Professor Nutbrown’s independent review of early education and childcare qualifications, Foundations for Quality, (June 2012), the government consulted on and subsequently set robust criteria for the skills, knowledge and understanding that must be tested by level 3 qualifications. These were implemented in September 2014. There are currently 31 level 3 qualifications, available from a range of awarding organisations, which are approved by this department. All of these meet the level 3 criteria. The early years workforce strategy published in March 2017 included a commitment to develop criteria for level 2 qualifications. These new criteria will set minimum qualification content, which awarding bodies will use to develop new, more robust and consistent qualifications for delivery from September 2019.To note: The Early Years Workforce Strategy can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-workforce-strategyNutbrown report: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/175463/Nutbrown-Review.pdf Teachers’ Standards (Early Years):https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/211646/Early_Years_Teachers__Standards.pdf Level 3 qualifications criteria:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-educator-level-3-qualifications-criteria

Parliament: Apprentices

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answers of 21 April 2017 to Questions 70502 and 70503, on apprentices: Parliament, how much has been paid by the House of Commons and by hon. Members of the House of Commons and Members of the House of Lords.

Anne Milton: Introduced on 6 April 2017, the apprenticeship levy requires all UK employers with an annual pay bill of £3 million or more to pay 0.5% of their paybill to invest in apprenticeship training. The levy is collected from UK employers on a monthly basis via PAYE. The expected yield for the apprenticeship levy is published in table B.5 (‘Current Receipts’) in the Spring Budget 2017 document. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/597467/spring_budget_2017_web.pdf. Data on how much individual employers contribute to the levy will not be made publicly available because of taxpayer confidentiality.

Universities: Admissions

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reasons some universities are limited on the number of students that can be admitted in one academic year for degrees such as medicine.

Joseph Johnson: The Government limits the number of medical students accepted to English medical schools each year according to the future medical workforce needs of the NHS and the associated public funding provided to support medical students, clinical placement providers and universities.The Department of Health, on advice from Health Education England (HEE), decides how many student places are needed in order to meet future workforce requirements. This number is agreed with the Department for Education (DfE) and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). HEFCE is responsible for determining how to distribute the agreed number of places between universities, which is achieved through the use of set intake targets for each medical school. HEFCE takes into account the advice of HEE, both on future geographic or service need, as well as the availability of clinical placements.Medical students in England are eligible for a government-funded bursary to cover tuition fees from the fifth year of study, or from the second year of the graduate entry programme. HEFCE provides teaching grants to universities in recognition of the additional costs of teaching medicine, such as specialist staff, equipment and facilities. Medical students spend a significant amount of time undertaking clinical placements with healthcare providers and HEE provides a placement fee (tariff) to providers who deliver those placements. In addition to the funding provided to students, universities and placement providers, medical students are also able to apply for funding to contribute towards their living costs whilst studying. This is provided both as repayable loans in the first four years and as a non-repayable bursary in the fifth (and sixth) year(s) of their course.

Apprentices: Finance

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what arrangements are in place in the apprenticeships service account system in relation to payments made through (a) the apprenticeships levy and (b) co-investments to ensure that funding levels for apprenticeships are not negatively affected by macro-economic trends in wage levels.

Anne Milton: The apprenticeship budget has been set by Her Majesty’s Treasury at a level that will provide sufficient funds to provide 3 million apprenticeship starts in England by 2020. By 2020 the total apprenticeships investment in England will be almost £2.5 billion, double what was spent in 2010-11. In England, levy-paying employers can access their funds through the apprenticeship service. The government provides a 10% top up paid monthly into apprenticeship service accounts. Where an employer has spent all of their levy funds, they will pay 10% towards the additional training and assessment costs with government paying the remaining 90%. For non-levy payers, government pays 90% of the cost of training and assessment, whilst the employer pays the remaining 10% of the balance. Non-levying paying employers do not currently use the apprenticeship service – both the employer and government pay the training provider directly.

Vocational Guidance: Health Professions

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to encourage more young people to work towards a career in the healthcare professions.

Anne Milton: We want young people to have access to information on the range of jobs and careers, as well as engagement with employers to inspire them about what they can achieve. Apprenticeships provide routes into a variety of careers in healthcare with employers designing and developing apprenticeship standards in a range of healthcare occupations. Standards currently available include Healthcare Science Assistant and Registered Nurse at degree level, with standards in development including Paramedic at degree level. Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/apprenticeship-standards#health-and-science-standards. Information on the healthcare professions is available from a number of sources. The National Careers Service provides independent, professional advice on careers, skills and the labour market. The Careers & Enterprise Company is ensuring that every young person can access work opportunities, including work placements, work experience and other employer-based activities. It is offering support to schools by increasing the level of employer input into careers, inspiration and enterprise programmes. Employers and professional bodies in the healthcare industry can sign up to ‘Inspiring the Future’, run by the Education and Employers charity. This free programme allows volunteers to visit state schools to talk to pupils about their job. This will raise the profile of various careers within the healthcare sector.  We want to go further to ensure that everyone can find a fulfilling education or training route that is right for them, whether this is an academic route, technical route or apprenticeship. My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, confirmed in a speech to the Sutton Trust on 12 July that we will publish a careers strategy in the Autumn. This will improve the extent and quality of support for people of all ages.

Pupils: Disadvantaged

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 6 of the Education Policy Institute report, Closing the gap? Trends in educational attainment and disadvantage, published in August 2017, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the findings that at current trends we estimate that it would take around 50 years for the disadvantage gap to close completely by the time pupils take their GCSEs; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Robert Goodwill: We want to make sure all children, regardless of their background, have an excellent education and we know that overall the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers is narrowing. Careful interrogation of the data using the department’s gap index shows that the attainment gap for all disadvantaged pupils has narrowed by 7.0% at key stage 4 and by 9.3% at key stage 2 since 2011, the year the pupil premium was introduced. But there is more to do. That is why, through the Pupil Premium, we are investing almost £2.5bn of additional funding this year to support schools to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. Thanks to our reforms there are 1.8 million more children in schools rated good or outstanding than in 2010, and the Education Endowment Foundation is working in hundreds of schools to expand the evidence of what works best to accelerate progress.   On top of this, our £72m Opportunity Areas programme will not only create opportunities for young people in social mobility ‘coldspots’, but will identify and share effective practice across the country to ensure all young people get the opportunities they deserve.

Crimes of Violence: Females

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress the Government has made on achieving its aims set out in action 28 of its 2016 to 2020 Strategy on Violence Against Women and Girls.

Anne Milton: The department, in conjunction with the Home Office, has fulfilled action 28 of the ‘Strategy to end violence against women and girls: 2016 to 2020’, and established a cross-government working group to develop proactive responses to online misogyny.This work is ongoing.

Universal Credit: Free School Meals

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether all families in receipt of universal credit are entitled to free school meals.

Mr Robert Goodwill: All pupils whose parents are in receipt of universal credit (UC) are currently entitled to free school meals (FSM). This is an interim arrangement during the initial roll-out of UC. The Department for Education is working closely with the Department for Work and Pensions, other Government departments and other interested parties to establish new criteria for determining entitlement to benefits-related FSM as the roll-out progresses. No decision has been taken yet, and our proposals on this matter will be announced in due course.

Apprentices: Older Workers

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the oral Answer of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions of 6 July 2017, Official Report, column 1297, on the number of people over 60-years old who started apprenticeships, how many of those people were (a) men and (b) women.

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions of 5 July 2017, Official Report, column 143WH, on apprenticeships opportunities, how many women over 59-years started apprenticeships in each year since 2010-11.

Anne Milton: The table below shows apprenticeship starts by gender for learners aged 60 and over for the available academic years (2011/12 to 2015/16). Data for the 2016/17 academic year shows starts covering the year reported to date - August 2016 to April 2017.  2011/122012/132013/142014/152015/162016/2017 Full yearFull yearFull yearFull yearFull yearReported to dateFemale1,6501,5201,1701,6901,7801,780Male2,0301,7401,3201,7301,7801,640Total3,6803,2602,4803,4103,5603,420  Figures rounded and may not add up to totals

Apprentices: Older Workers

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the oral Answer of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions of 6 July 2017, Official Report, column 1297, on the number of people over 60-years old who started apprenticeships, what steps her Department is taking to promote apprenticeships for women over 59-years old.

Anne Milton: Apprenticeships offer a route into skilled employment for people of all ages and backgrounds. This could include a young person starting out in their first job, an existing employee up-skilling, or a more experienced worker re-training or re-entering the workforce.We are implementing apprenticeship reforms to continue to improve the quality of apprenticeships for all, providing the skills that employers need to reach our commitment of 3 million starts in England by 2020.We regularly communicate the benefits of apprenticeships and prospective apprentices can use Find an Apprenticeship to search and apply for apprenticeship vacancies in England. Further information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship.Our Diversity Champions Network is championing gender representation in apprenticeships amongst employers in industries where improvement is needed.

Apprentices: Older Workers

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions of 5 July 2017, Official Report, column 143WH, on apprenticeships opportunities, how many women over 59-years old her Department estimates will start apprenticeships in each year to 2020-21.

Anne Milton: The department has made estimates of the overall numbers of apprenticeships in future years but does not have a breakdown either by gender or by age.

Department for Education: Cybercrime

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the principle set out in paragraph 5.3.6 of the Government's Cyber Security Strategy that everyone who works in government has a sound awareness of cyber risk applies to members of staff employed by contractors doing work procured by her Department.

Mr Robert Goodwill: It is departmental policy that all contracts, where cyber security is relevant, impose an obligation on contractors to obtain Cyber Essentials certification and demonstrate conformance to, and show evidence of conformance to the ISO/IEC 27001 (Information Security Management Systems Requirements) standard, including the application of controls from ISO/IEC 27002 (Code of Practice for Information Security Controls). Additionally all contractor or sub-contractor employees who handle Departmental Data must have annual awareness training in protecting information. All contractors with access to the DfE network are prompted at login to read the DfE Acceptable Use Policies. These policies set out the conditions for the official and personal use of the Department’s Information Technology and Security policy framework.

Department for Education: Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether requests for consultancy and temporary staff for the her Department must be accompanied by a formal business case.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of requests for consultancy and temporary staff for her Department were approved via a resource board.

Mr Robert Goodwill: All expenditure by the department, including on consultants or temporary staff, requires a business case, to be cleared by a Deputy Director, Director or Senior Responsible Officer.The Department for Education does not have a resource board.

Department for Education: Secondment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications her Department has received for (a) internal loans and (b) secondments from civil servants in each year since 2010.

Mr Robert Goodwill: All of the Department’s vacancies that are advertised across the Civil Service are available on inward loan. I am sorry, but we have only been able to provide data from August 2016, when we changed recruitment provider. We are not able to provide the information prior to August 2016 in the format requested as it would exceed the disproportionate cost threshold as set by Treasury of £850. YearNumber of applications from Civil ServantsAugust 2016 – March 2017347April 2017 – to date252 Secondments are only open to non-civil servants to take up temporary roles in the department. Therefore no civil servants will have applied for secondments.

Department for Education: Assets

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, in which of the last 10 years her Department has submitted a strategic asset management plan to the Government Property Unit.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Government Property Unit has commissioned Strategic Asset Management Plans (SAMPs) from departments on an annual basis since 2014. The SAMP articulates the property aspects of a department's business and forms part of the overall planning framework in government linked to each Single Departmental Plan. In some cases, where there are significant changes to a department's remit (such as following a machinery of government change or major business reviews), the timing of a SAMP refresh may be aligned with the broader strategy for the department. Information is provided regularly to the Government Property Unit about the management of the department’s property assets and Executive Summaries of SAMPs will be published for the first time in Autumn 2017.

Construction Industry Training Board

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to increase the level of transparency of the Construction Industry Training Board's administration of levy income and grants.

Anne Milton: The department is reviewing the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) as part of the Post-16 Skills Plan in July 2016. Along with ministers in DCLG and BEIS, I published an open letter to the Chair of CITB in July 2017 which confirms government support for CITB, conditional on reform and industry support during the vote taking place on the levy rate during summer 2017. It is my intention to publish the Industry Training Board (ITB) Review in October 2017.The CITB produces and publishes information regarding the administration of its grant scheme as part of its Annual Report, which was laid before Parliament on 29 June 2017. CITB also published a funding impact report on 1 September 2017, which set out how CITB grants are used to support training in industry.CITB have recently developed and publicised significant plans for reform, including plans to automate and digitalise the payment of grants to employers that will reduce administrative burden, particularly for small business. These reforms will supplement and reinforce any proposals to help increase the transparency of CITB’s decision making, and accountability to industry, made in the ITB Review.

Children: Day Care

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will ensure that PhD students will be eligible for 30-hours free childcare.

Mr Robert Goodwill: 30 hours free childcare is an entitlement for working parents of 3- and 4-year-olds. It aims to help working parents with the costs of childcare so that they can take up paid work if they want to, or work additional hours. PHD students will not, therefore, be eligible for the additional hours. The Government does recognise the value of parents continuing in, or returning to, education and provides support to those enrolled in recognised education courses through other schemes such as the Childcare Grant, which offers parents support with up to 85% of their childcare costs depending on their household income. All 3- and 4-year-olds are also eligible for 15 hours of funded early education a week. PHD students who work in addition to their studies and meet the income requirements will be eligible for the additional hours.

Open University: Overseas Students

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations her Department has received on the Open University's refusal to accept students from Cuba.

Joseph Johnson: The UK greatly values its relationship with Cuba and signed a Memorandum of Understanding in April 2016, with the aim of enhancing co-operation in higher education. We are committed to the principles of partnership and development as set out in the Memorandum. We are aware of the interest around this issue and, at the request of the Open University, officials from the Department for Education, the Department for International Trade, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have met with it to discuss its use of a restricted countries list in its application process, in particular in relation to Cuba. There are no UK or EU sanctions against Cuba. However, we understand that private organisations such as the Open University have to take decisions about their exposure to sanctions on the basis of commercial considerations, their own legal advice and appropriate risk assessments.

Representation of the People Act 1918: Anniversaries

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will be responsible for the administration of the 1918 Representation of the People commemoration fund; and if she will publish details on how organisations can apply for grants from that fund.

Anne Milton: The government has set up a £5m fund to help celebrate this important occasion. Officials in the Government Equalities Office are responsible for this fund. The funding will be available for projects in England, and details including application criteria will be announced in due course. The Barnett formula has been applied to this funding in the usual way and it is for the devolved administrations, including the Welsh Government, to decide whether, and how, they choose to mark the centenary.

Students: Disability

Michael Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what provision her Department makes to assist with the living costs of disabled students attending university.

Joseph Johnson: Disabled and non-disabled students alike can apply for loans to help pay for university or college tuition fees and to help with living costs. Some students may also be eligible for additional support where they have children or adults who depend on them. Disabled students can also apply for Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs), which are not income assessed and are not repayable, to cover essential, additional, learning-related expenditure they are obliged to incur because of their disability. Information on student support including DSAs is available at https://www.gov.uk/student-finance/extra-help.

Students: Loans

Michael Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reasons interest rates on student loans are set at their present level; and what the potential merits are of lowering those levels.

Joseph Johnson: The interest rates for income contingent student loans are prescribed by secondary legislation. The rates for all three schemes are set annually and apply from 1 September to 31 August the following year. The rates are based on the retail price index (RPI) from the previous March. Interest rates for student loans in repayment vary with the income of the borrower. Borrowers earning less than £21,000 p.a. are charged interest at RPI only. Interest then increases on a sliding scale with income up to a maximum of RPI+3% for borrowers earning over £41,000. Government-issued student loans have much more favourable terms than commercial loans, and are subsidised by the Government. Borrowers are protected. Monthly repayments are linked to income and not to the amount borrowed. Borrowers earning less than the repayment threshold of £21,000 repay nothing at all. Borrowers earning above £21,000 repay 9% of their income above the threshold, irrespective of the amount borrowed. Any outstanding loan balance, including interest, is written off after 30 years with no detriment to the borrower. Student loans are available to all eligible students regardless of their previous financial history. The Department is not aware of any commercial loans that offer this level of borrower protection. This system of variable interest rates based on income is progressive, and ensures that higher earners make a fair contribution to the sustainability of the higher education system. Reducing interest rates would only benefit higher earning borrowers, who would pay back less than they do currently. Low-earning borrowers, who will have a proportion of their debt written off at the end of the loan period, would not benefit from a reduction in rates.

Department for Education: Brexit

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which EU legislation within her Department's responsibilities will (a) be incorporated into UK law through the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill and (b) require to be amended under powers in that Bill.

Anne Milton: The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill will convert European Union law into UK law as it applies in the UK at the moment of exit. This will ensure that, wherever possible, the same rules and laws will apply after exit from the EU as they did before. The Government is still making a detailed assessment of what corrections will be required to make that law function appropriately. The department is responsible for a number of policy areas falling within the scope of this process including recognition of professional qualifications, equalities and participation in some EU agencies.

Pupil Exclusions: Autism

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, who is responsible for recording and responding to unlawful practices relating to the exclusion from school of children with autism.

Mr Robert Goodwill: There are clear duties in place to ensure that all exclusions are lawful, reasonable and fair.The Department statutory guidance on exclusion: ‘Exclusion from maintained schools, Academies and pupil referral units in England’ covers the process from start to finish, and includes specific requirements in relation to pupils with Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). In particular, head teachers should make additional efforts to consider what extra support may be required to avoid exclusion of pupils with SEND, and as far as possible, should avoid permanently excluding pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan/Statement.There are safeguards in place to ensure schools follow these rules. This includes a process by which all decisions to exclude can be (and in the case of longer or permanent exclusions, must be) reviewed by the schools’ governing board. For permanent exclusions, parents can also request a review of the decision by an independent review panel, who can direct or recommend that the governing board reconsider their decision. Parents also have the right to request a special educational needs expert who can advise the review panel, impartially, of the relevance of special educational needs to the exclusion.We expect all schools to adhere to these rules and we will be reminding schools of their responsibilities.

Apprentices: Learning Disability

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to implement recommendation 8 of the Maynard Taskforce.

Anne Milton: We are making good progress in implementing the recommendations made by Paul Maynard’s taskforce to ensure that having a learning difficulty and/or disability is not a barrier to becoming an apprentice. In accordance with Recommendation 8, we considered joining up funding streams to reduce potential hurdles. On reviewing departments’ policies, we found that sources of funding support for those with learning disabilities in work are already streamlined. The Department for Work and Pension’s Access to Work scheme is a highly personalised funding stream, which is already able to consider pre-existing assessments of need agreed by other agencies in emplacing support in the workplace, including Additional Learning Support assessments.We are also evaluating how the new apprenticeship funding system is working to encourage the successful take up and likely achievement of apprentices with a disability. We have developed guidance materials, which make clearer the support available to disabled apprentices and how to access that, including a toolkit for employers to help them develop a more inclusive and accessible apprenticeship offer, and equality and diversity training materials.

Children: Asylum

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish the strategy on the safeguarding of unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee children.

Mr Robert Goodwill: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on on 7 September 2017 to Question 6376http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-questions-answers/?page=1&max=20&questiontype=AllQuestions&house=commons%2clords&uin=6376

Students: Finance

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when the 2014-15 Student Income and Expenditure Survey will be published.

Joseph Johnson: The Student Income and Expenditure Survey 2014-15 will be published shortly. The last published 2011-12 survey can be found at this link. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/student-income-and-expenditure-survey-2011-t0-2012.

Further Education: Finance

Dr Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of maintaining current levels of core educational funding for 16 to 18 year olds on (a) educational outcomes and (b) further education provision; and what plans she has for (i) funding and (ii) resourcing further education in the next five years.

Anne Milton: The post-16 system is performing well and a record proportion of 16 to 18-year olds are now participating in education or apprenticeships. The results in the first of the reformed A levels were released last month, with students continuing to achieve effectively against the high standards of the qualification and demonstrating their readiness for the demands of higher education. Overall A level results this year were stable compared to last year. A record number of 18-year olds applied for places in Higher Education this year and the entry rate for English 18-year olds from disadvantaged backgrounds is at a record high.

Free Schools

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department has spent on purchasing temporary sites for free schools; and how much has been spent to date on each such site.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The length of time it takes to acquire a site, secure planning permission and then build a school can mean that it is sometimes necessary for a school to open in temporary accommodation. When we do open schools in temporary accommodation, we undertake a value for money assessment and ensure that all temporary accommodation is safe and suitable for educational purposes. Up until the end of the 2016/17 academic year, the Department had opened 234 free schools in temporary accommodation at a projected cost of £126 million. This figure includes the cost of any temporary sites purchased as well as additional capital costs spent on temporary accommodation.

LocatED

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department spent on LocatED between 2015 and 2016.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Department of Education spent £869,900 on the development of LocatED between July 2015 and 20 September 2016, when LocatED was established as a separate company and listed at Companies House. This figure includes the cost of contracted staff who worked on the acquisition of sites as well as setting up LocatED. Acquisition work would have been carried out regardless of the LocatED set up. Information on LocatED’s grant-in-aid from this date until 31 March 2017 is included within LocatED’s report and accounts to be published and laid before both Houses well before the statutory deadline of 31 December 2017.

LocatED

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department's total budget was for LocatED in the last year for which figures are available.

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish LocatED's annual accounts for 2016-17.

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish the job titles and salaries of the senior management team of LocatED.

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what performance objectives she has set for LocatED.

Mr Robert Goodwill: LocatED’s indicative budget for 2016-17 was set at £2.6m. LocatED’s costs were formally managed as part of the wider Education Funding Agency budget in 2016-17. Actual costs incurred by LocatED in 2016-17 will be detailed in their annual report and accounts to be published and laid before both Houses before the statutory deadline of 31 December 2017. The report will include the job titles and salaries of senior managers and performance objectives for 2017-18.

Free Schools

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what target has been set for the number of free schools to be opened by 2020; and what the number is of free schools that have opened that have contributed towards that target.

Mr Robert Goodwill: We remain committed to an ambitious free schools programme that delivers choice, innovation and higher standards for parents. 29% of free schools inspected by Ofsted are rated outstanding. By the end of September 2017, there will be 473 open free schools, university technical colleges and studio schools. There are currently 321 projects aiming to open in the future.

LocatED

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the criteria was for the recruitment of the Chief Executive Officer of LocatED.

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many candidates (a) applied and (b) were interviewed for the post of Chief Executive Officer of LocatED.

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, where the post of Chief Executive Officer of LocatED was advertised.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The post was advertised in Estates Gazette and Property Week and on the Total Jobs and Indeed recruitment web sites.The job advertisement stated that applicants must meet the following requirements: have knowledge of the full range of delivery vehicles available to deliver property investments; show a proven track record of successful corporate leadership within a multi-disciplined organisation; and have a proven track record in building the public profile of an organisation.The advertisement also stated that being a significant industry figure with a reputation in the market for identifying and unlocking sites with large landowners, developers, house builders and institutional investors would also be a distinct advantage.40 candidates applied and four were shortlisted for interview.

Universities: Easington

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people in Easington constituency (a) enrolled in, (b) applied to and (c) dropped out of university in the last 12 months.

Joseph Johnson: The Department for Education analysis of data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) shows that there were 780 first year enrolments[1] in higher education at UK Higher Education Institutions in the academic year 2015/16 who were domiciled in Easington parliamentary constituency prior to their studies.Data on the number of applicants to higher education by parliamentary constituency is not currently publicly available from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), however, they do publish 18-year-old application rates at this level. In 2017 the application rate for 18 year olds in Easington was 27.2%.Information on the number of people dropping out of university by parliamentary constituency is not published by HESA and could only be provided at a disproportionate cost. [1] Includes students entering both undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Parliamentary constituency and local authority is derived from the student's postcode prior to study. Figures are rounded to the nearest five.

Universities: Easington

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how she plans to encourage more working class students who are concerned about the financial burden in Easington constituency to go to university.

Joseph Johnson: Our student finance system ensures that costs are split fairly between graduates and the taxpayer, while removing financial barriers for anyone hoping to study. All eligible students can apply for fee loans to meet the full costs of their tuition up-front. By replacing maintenance grants with loans, the Government has been able to increase the funding for living costs that some of the most disadvantaged students receive. Eligible students on the lowest incomes received a 10.3% increase in their living costs support for the 2016/17 academic year with a further 2.8% increase for 2017/18. Good progress has been made to support disadvantaged young people to go to university. The application rate for disadvantaged 18 year olds is at a record high, showing that people have not been put off by tuition fees. Universities seeking to charge fees over the basic tuition fee amount must have an agreement approved by the independent Director for Fair Access, setting out what steps they will take to widen participation to disadvantaged students. Universities are expected to spend more than £860 million in 18/19 on measures to improve access and student success for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Universities: Admissions

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many university applications have been submitted deferring entry to September 2018.

Joseph Johnson: The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) publishes data on the number of applications to full-time undergraduate courses that are deferred.Data on the number of applications deferring for entry in 2018/19 will be published in December.

Self-employed: Adoption

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 29 March 2017 to Question 69018, for what reasons the Government consultation on the case for introducing an adoption allowance similar to maternity allowance for self-employed adopters is no longer being brought forward; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Since 2010, we have taken significant steps to equalise the state benefits provided to the employed and self-employed, including giving the self-employed access to the full rate of the new State Pension for the first time, (worth up to £1,800/year more). We continue to keep all differences in treatment between self-employed and employed people under review.

Department for Education: Buildings

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of sites to be purchased by LocatED by 2019; and how many and what proportion of those sites will be intentionally temporary.

Mr Robert Goodwill: By the end of September 2017, there will be 474 open free schools, including 52 new schools opening this month. There are a further 321 schools aiming to open in future years. Opening on temporary sites enables school places to be available to parents sooner than if new schools opened only in their permanent accommodation. One of LocatED’s key aims is to reduce the requirement for temporary sites by securing permanent sites quicker than previously. LocatED is currently commissioned to provide 141 sites for free schools and we anticipate that they will have exchanged on the majority by 2019. Of the current commissions, 19 are for temporary sites.

Children: Mental Health Services

Mr Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress is being made in implementing the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health recommendation that her Department establish an expert group to examine the needs of children vulnerable to developing mental health problems and how their needs should be met, including through provision of personalised budgets.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Department of Health and the Department for Education have established an Expert Working Group to ensure that the emotional wellbeing and mental health needs of children and young people in care, those adopted from care or under a Special Guardianship Order and care leavers are better met. The group is due to report in October.

Children: Day Care

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to ensure the provisions of adequate levels of high-quality childcare after the introduction of the scheme for 30 hours of free childcare; and what assessment she has made of the effect of that scheme on childcare providers' ability to employ well qualified early years teachers and other staff.

Mr Robert Goodwill: We are determined to support as many families as possible with access to high-quality, affordable childcare. As of March 2017, the proportion of childcare providers judged good or outstanding is at its highest ever at 93%. In the twelve Early Delivery areas, over 15,000 30 hours places were successfully delivered to eligible parents. To help ensure quality, all providers offering government funded entitlements, including the 15 hours of funded early education of disadvantaged 2 year-olds, have to be registered with Ofsted and follow the EYFS Framework. In March 2017, we published an early years workforce strategy which aims to support employers in attracting, retaining and developing their staff. We are, for example, working with the sector to develop more robust criteria for the content of level 2 childcare qualifications, which will help level 2 workers to gain the knowledge and skills they need to deliver effective early education and childcare and to progress.

Special Educational Needs

Mr Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number of SEND pupils in each local authority area in England in the most recent year for which figures are available; and what the cost of educating those pupils in each of those areas was in that year.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The number of SEND pupils in each local authority area in England at January 2017, is available in the local authority tables published on GOV.UK at:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england-january-2017. Local authority expenditure data is published on GOV.UK at:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/section-251-materials. This includes expenditure on SEN support services provided directly by local authorities, and their expenditure on special schools. We do not hold information on the costs of educating pupils with SEND that are met by mainstream schools from their budgets.

Children: Day Care

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) women and (b) men (i) work as childminders or (ii) are employed by childcare providers which are set to deliver the 30 hours of free childcare for three and four year olds.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Data from the Childcare and early years providers survey (2016) shows that, at the time of the survey, there were 46,600 registered childminders of which 98% were female and 2% male. Latest data on males in full day care settings, the childcare and early years providers survey 2013, showed that they also make up 2% of the workforce. At the time of both surveys the 30 hours of free childcare for three and four year olds policy details were still in development and so we do not have workforce data relating to that provision. To note: The Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey 2016 is available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2016. The Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey 2013 is available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2013.

Pupils: Dyslexia

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps are being taken to ensure that teaching schools have staff who are qualified to train others to teach dyslexic pupils.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Care Leavers

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children have remained in placement under the Government's policy Staying put, arrangements for care leavers aged 18 and above to stay on with former foster carers.

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the annual cost is of the Government's policy Staying put, arrangements for care leavers aged 18 and above to stay on with former foster carers.

Mr Robert Goodwill: In the year ending 31 March 2016, there were 1,230 care leavers who had ceased to be looked after from a foster placement on their 18th birthday and were still living with their former foster carers aged 19 or 20.Experimental statistics1 show that in the year ending 31 March 2016 there were 1,440 similar care leavers aged 18 who were living with former foster carers.These figures and related information can be found in Tables F1b and F1d in the statistical first release Children looked after in England including adoption: 2015 to 2016 at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2015-to-2016.The Department for Education is providing £22.85m to local authorities to fund Staying Put arrangements during 2017-18. The new care leaver strategy, Keep on Caring, published in July 2016 at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keep-on-caring-supporting-young-people-from-care-to-independence, confirmed that we will continue to provide funding to local authorities to implement Staying Put through to 2019-20.Information on 18 year old care leavers was collected for the first time in 2016. Analysis suggests that some local authorities have not provided data for around 11% of all 18 year olds. Therefore this data has been published as experimental statistics and should be treated with caution.

Apprentices: Ashfield

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprenticeships in Ashfield constituency are (a) above and (b) below NVQ Level 2.

Anne Milton: Apprenticeship programmes are only delivered at Level 2 and above. The table below shows total apprenticeship participation in the Ashfield consistency for the latest full year for which data is available, 2015/16.Data for the 2016/17 academic year shows participation covering the year reported to date, August 2016 to April 2017.   2015/162016/17 Full yearReported to dateTotal2,5302,460

Children: Protection

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when the guidance on tackling peer-to-peer abuse in Keeping children safe in education will be reviewed and updated.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The department is planning to launch a public consultation on revising Keeping children safe in education later in the autumn. The department expects revised guidance to be published for information in spring 2018, to give schools and colleges time to plan for any changes, before it comes into force in September 2018.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Dogs: Smuggling

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many prosecutions have occurred or proceedings commenced as the result of seizure of illegally imported puppies taken into Dogs Trust's care via its puppy pilot quarantine scheme since the start of that initiative.

George Eustice: The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is working with the Dogs Trust and Kent County Council to identify and seize dogs and puppies which were not compliant with the requirements of the Pet Travel Scheme as part of a pilot project responding to intelligence on potential non-compliance. However any prosecutions or proceedings commenced as a result of the puppy pilot would be undertaken by the Local Authorities. Local Authorities are required to submit a return to Parliament each year (under Section 80 of the Animal Health Act). The reports do contain high level details of all prosecutions, and the report for 2016 shows that 5 prosecutions were taken in relation to the illegal import of dogs. However we do not hold information on whether these successful prosecutions were as a result of the Puppy Pilot.

Dogs: Animal Welfare

Nicky Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish the outcome of his Animal Welfare Team's voluntary survey of police forces, local authorities and social landlords on measures to address dog control and to reduce dog attacks in England.

George Eustice: My officials are completing their analysis of the results of this survey. Once the analysis is complete later this year, we intend to confirm the results to respondents and publish additional guidance and information on the effective measures that are available to the police and local authorities.

Fisheries: Treaties

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what bilateral agreements (a) have been negotiated and (b) are being planned with (i) Spain, (ii) Iceland and (iii) other EU countries with major fishing fleets to address the potential consequences of the UK's withdrawal from the London Fisheries Convention.

George Eustice: The UK gave notification of its withdrawal from the London Fisheries Convention on 3 July 2017. There is a two-year notification period. Iceland is not a signatory to the London Fisheries Convention. Spain is but does not have access to the UK’s 6-12 mile zone which, for all signatories, are the waters covered by the Convention. On leaving the EU, the UK will become an independent coastal state and, under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, will have responsibility for the management of fishing resources within its own Exclusive Economic Zone including any access arrangements. The UK will make bilateral or multilateral agreements with other independent coastal states, such as Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Norway. Spain and all other EU member states will continue to be represented by the European Union, and the UK will deal bilaterally with the European Commission in any subsequent fisheries agreements.

Dogs: Smuggling

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to improve measures to prevent the illegal importation of underage puppies after the UK leaves the EU.

George Eustice: While the United Kingdom remains in the European Union we remain signed up to the Pet Travel Scheme and the rules by which dogs and puppies are imported into the United Kingdom.Since December 2015 the Animal and Plant Health Agency teams have been working in partnership with the Dogs Trust, Kent County Council and Kent Police on a pilot to identify and seize non-compliant dogs at Dover and Folkestone. To date over 600 dogs have been seized the majority being under the minimum age permitted to enter the UK.Leaving the EU provides us with an opportunity to develop gold standard policies on animal welfare. We are determined to get a good EU exit deal for Britain and we have been absolutely clear we will maintain and enhance our world-leading animal welfare standards.

Plastic Bags: Fees and Charges

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the introduction of the 5 pence carrier bag charge on the number of carrier bags issued by retailers.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Since the introduction of the five pence carrier bag charge in October 2015, retailer reporting shows a very large drop in the consumption of single use plastic carrier bags; the seven major retailers distributed around nine billion fewer single-use plastic bags (a reduction of around 83%) compared to pre-charge levels.

Plastic Bags: Fees and Charges

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what environmental projects have benefited from the introduction of the 5 pence carrier bag charge.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Since the introduction of the five pence carrier bags charge in October 2015, more than £95 million has been donated to good causes, including charities and community groups in the areas of the environment, education, health, arts, heritage and sports as well as local causes chosen by customers or staff.The Government does not hold information on which environmental projects have benefitted from the charge. Retailers are required to report on the use of any net proceeds of the charge, but there is no legal obligation for retailers to report on which projects in particular have benefitted.

Public Footpaths: Road Signs and Markings

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that national trails are properly signposted.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Natural England’s national quality standards for national trails include the principle that there should be a high quality of path infrastructure, with the long distance route easy to follow as a result of consistent, accurate and unobtrusive waymarking and destination signage. This kind of infrastructure is put in place when national trails are first created and is then maintained with the help of annual Natural England grant aid to national trail partnerships. Natural England estimates that there are some 7,500 fingerposts and signposts serving the 13 English national trails.

National Parks

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much was allocated to the National Parks in each year since 2010; and how much is projected to be spent in each year up to 2020.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The total allocated to each national park authority from financial years 2010/11 to 2017/18 is shown in the following tables with projections for 2018/19 and 2019/20.  



Table of projections
(Word Document, 14.5 KB)

Food: Imports

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of food consumed in the UK was imported in each year since 2007.

George Eustice: Based on the farm-gate value of raw food, the proportion of UK consumption which was imported is shown in the table below. 200720082009201020112012201320142015201649%48%49%49%47%46%46%46%48%51% More detail on the geographic origin of food consumed domestically, including the proportion of UK produced food which is exported, is published in the Agriculture in the UK annual reports on the Defra website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/agriculture-in-the-united-kingdom. The figures above are not a measure of ‘self-sufficiency’. The more commonly used ‘production to supply ratio’ which also contains food produced here and then exported is shown below. 2007200820092010201120122013201420152016All food %60605961646360626160Indigenous type food %73737275787773767676

Agriculture

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has undertaken an impact assessment of the effect on the UK agricultural sector of the UK leaving the single market.

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on the UK farming industry in the event that no deal is reached on the UK leaving the EU.

George Eustice: Leaving the EU presents a major opportunity for UK agriculture. We are working towards achieving the best possible deal for the UK agriculture industry, and we want to secure a deep and comprehensive Free-Trade Agreement as an alternative to membership of the Single Market.We are conducting rigorous analysis of various trade scenarios on UK agriculture as part of our planning. Other organisations have also conducted external analysis of future trading scenarios and their potential impact on the sector.

Animal Products: Labelling

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to improve the labelling of meat and other animal products to help consumers make an informed decision about welfare standards.

George Eustice: There is currently no requirement for method of production labelling. However, in the UK, farmers and food business operators have long been accustomed to voluntarily providing information to enable consumers to make informed decisions about their food choices.Leaving the EU provides an opportunity to reconsider labelling policy.

Agriculture and Environment

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to combine the 25 Year Plan for the Environment with the 25 Year Plan for Food and Farming; whether there will be an opportunity for consultation prior to or after the publication of any individual or combined plan; and whether any such individual or combined plan will apply to England only.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: There are no plans for a separate 25 Year Plan for Food and Farming, instead the 25 Year Environment Plan will help inform future agricultural and fishing policy. There will be plenty of opportunities for interested parties to engage and help shape the Plan going forwards. The Government will continue to work closely with the devolved administrations to improve our environment.

Ivory: Sales

Mims Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to stop the domestic ivory market.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Bridgend, Madeleine Moon, on 26 July 2017, PQ UIN 5521.

Fires: Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate the Government has made of the change in the level of harmful emissions, such as PM2.5, as a result of more people using wood-burning stoves and chimneys in each of the last three years.

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government has undertaken an assessment of the potential effect on health of the increase in the use of domestic wood burning stoves and chimneys.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Our most recent assessment shows that domestic solid fuel burning contributed 40% (42 kilotonnes) of total PM2.5 emissions in the UK during 2015, with domestic wood burning alone accounting for 35% (37 kilotonnes). This compares with 39 kilotonnes (solid fuels) and 33 kilotonnes (wood) in 2014 and 45 kilotonnes (solid fuels) and 40 kilotonnes (wood) in 2013.Evidence shows that particulate matter (PM) of 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5) and smaller can have detrimental effects on health. Small particles from smoke which are formed when wood is burned can get into the lungs and blood and be transported around the body, where they have a variety of detrimental health effects. It is, however, difficult to assess the increase in risk to public health that is associated with domestic wood burning alone.

Forestry Commission

Jo Churchill: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the most recent Forestry Commission production forecast is.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The current Forestry Commission England production forecast for the public forest estate is an average annual volume of 1,263,000 cubic metres of softwood timber and 92,000 cubic metres of hardwood timber between 2017 and 2021.

Schools: Suffolk

Jo Churchill: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of helping establish a Forest School in Suffolk; and if he will make a statement.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The department recognises the benefits of forest schools for children and young people and the opportunities they provide to develop confidence through hands-on learning in a woodland environment. Proposals for any specific forest school, in Suffolk or elsewhere, would need to be assessed on their merits.

Whisky: Scotland

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Scottish Government about protecting the Scotch whisky industry when the UK leaves the EU.

George Eustice: The Secretary of State attended the Royal Highland Show on 22 June where he held discussions with Scottish Government Ministers and stakeholders including the Scotch Whisky Association. A ministerial meeting is also scheduled to take place in late September.

Whisky: Scotland

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues about protecting the Scotch whisky industry when the UK leaves the EU.

George Eustice: There are regular discussions between Ministers about how leaving the EU affects UK industries.Scotch Whisky is already protected in over 80 countries mostly through registration with Geographical Indication schemes but also through Trade Marks and free trade and other agreements drawn up over many years. Global exports of Scotch were worth £4 billion in 2016. Government is committed to building on this market access and ensuring protection continues after we leave the EU.

Ivory

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to prevent the trade of ivory.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Bridgend, Madeleine Moon, on 26 July 2017, PQ UIN 5521.

Whisky: Scotland

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how the Government plans to negotiate a deal with the EU which has the flexibility required to ensure that the Scotch whisky industry's interests are protected in line with any future changes in market conditions.

George Eustice: As part of our preparations to leave the EU, we will consider future global trading relationships and the impacts on the food and drink industry. Our ambition is for the UK to become a truly global trading nation and there are great opportunities for Scotland's most celebrated exports, such as Scotch Whisky, to take advantage of the growing interest in British food and drink around the world.

Food: Origin Marking

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to establish EU respect for future UK geographical indicators after the UK has left the EU.

George Eustice: Countries outside the EU are already able to participate in the EU's Protected Food Name schemes when selling onto the EU market. In addition, the rules that currently govern the enforcement of Protected Food Names will be placed on a UK legal basis through the EU Withdrawal Bill. Whether the UK continues to protect EU Protected Food Names from other member states in the UK market will be a matter for negotiation. Some of the Geographical Indicator designations that the UK has, for instance protecting Scotch Whisky in the US, are governed by agreements outside the EU Protected Food Name scheme. The UK will continue to abide by WTO rules on the protection of Geographical Indicators globally.

Food: Origin Marking

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to accept and help enforce future EU geographical indicators.

George Eustice: Countries outside the EU are already able to participate in the EU's Protected Food Name schemes when selling onto the EU market. In addition, the rules that currently govern the enforcement of Protected Food Names will be placed on a UK legal basis through the EU Withdrawal Bill. Whether the UK continues to protect EU Protected Food Names from other member states in the UK market will be a matter for negotiation. Some of the Geographical Indicator designations that the UK has, for instance protecting Scotch Whisky in the US, are governed by agreements outside the EU Protected Food Name scheme. The UK will continue to abide by WTO rules on the protection of Geographical Indicators globally.

Microplastics: Industry

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will assess the environmental impact of the use of microplastics in industrial processes.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: On Friday 21st July, the Government published the summary of responses to our consultation on plans to ban the manufacture and sale of cosmetics and personal care products containing microbeads, which may cause harm to the marine environment. We will introduce legislation later this year. The consultation also asked for evidence on other sources of marine plastic pollution. We will use the responses to develop future UK action to protect the marine environment.

Microplastics: Cosmetics

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of microbead-derived plastic which enters the natural environment originates in rinse-off cosmetics and personal care products.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Microbeads from personal care products are believed to make up a small percentage of the total of microplastics entering the environment. European studies estimate that they may contribute from 0.1% to as much as 4.1% of microplastic pollution..

Pets: Databases

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 20 April 2017 to Question 70622, for what reason the data recorded on the Pets Database and presented in the Answer to Question 66537 was inaccurate; and what the margin of error was in that data.

George Eustice: I refer the hon. Member to the reply previously given on 24 July 2017, PQ 5522.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Databases

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 24 July 2017 to Question 5522, (a) what steps he is taking to phase out manual data entry and (b) whether his Department is considering methods of data entry to improve the accuracy of data collection.

George Eustice: The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) agree a Required Method of Operation (RMOP) with transport companies which carry pet animals. The RMOP includes protocols to capture data accurately and to submit it in a timely manner. In the absence of an electronic method of data capture, manual entry is often the only current option. Whilst there is no legislative power to enforce data collection APHA work closely with the transport companies to ensure that they understand the need for accuracy. A new electronic method of collecting data is being considered where APHA hope to build on technological approaches being developed for other purposes.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Cybercrime

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the principle set out in paragraph 5.3.6 of the Government's Cyber Security Strategy that everyone who works in government has a sound awareness of cyber risk applies to members of staff employed by contractors doing work procured by his Department.

George Eustice: Defra places appropriate contractual obligations on our supply chain to ensure that they have the correct security vetting and relevant training in place. All suppliers are obliged to provide extensive cyber awareness training to their staff and their suppliers and contractors.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of requests for consultancy and temporary staff for his Department were approved via a resource board.

George Eustice: All requests for consultancy and temporary staff over £25,000 are approved by the Defra Gateway Approval Panel. However, the proportion of engagements over and under this threshold is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether requests for consultancy and temporary staff for the his Department must be accompanied by a formal business case.

George Eustice: All requests for consultancy and temporary staff must be accompanied by a formal business case.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Consultants

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of consultancy assignments procured by his Department are paid at a daily rate.

George Eustice: The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Environment Agency: Operating Costs

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the potential savings to the public purse of the reduction in Environment Agency depot costs.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Defra group, which includes the Environment Agency, has been delivering an integrated ‘group-wide’ property rationalisation plan since 2010. As a result annual property running costs, which include depots, were reduced by over £60 million by 2015, with a further £37 million in savings expected by 2020.Depots represent a relatively small proportion of property costs, which since 2015 have been reduced from £6.2 million to £5.8 million per year.The Environment Agency undertakes periodic reviews of its depot requirement, and how this is met. Depots are used for storing equipment and are a key part of the Environment Agency’s flood and pollution incident management capability and response infrastructure. Rationalisation is considered in that context.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Dr  Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding will be put in place to stop the spread of TB in cattle after the UK leaves the EU.

George Eustice: The Government will continue to deliver its manifesto commitment to implement its 25-year strategy to eradicate TB in England. This includes strengthening cattle testing and movement controls, improving biosecurity on farm and when trading, and badger control in areas where TB is rife. The Government currently spends around £100 million per year controlling TB in England.

Animal Welfare: Sentencing

Michelle Donelan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will assess the feasibility of raising the maximum sanction to five years in prison for animal cruelty sentences in England and Wales to align sentences with Northern Ireland.

George Eustice: Anyone who is cruel to an animal or does not provide for its welfare needs may be banned from owning animals, given an unlimited fine or sent to prison. We are aware of the penalties which apply in other parts of the United Kingdom. As the Secretary of State told the House on 20 July, we are actively reviewing penalties in England.

Environment: Imports

Michelle Donelan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the 25 Year Environment Plan will include measures to help manage the UK's impact on the environment in other countries through the products it imports.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Our 25 Year Environment Plan will set out not only how we will improve the natural environment in this country, but also how we will use the UK’s position and influence to improve the environment around the globe. We want to provide even stronger global leadership on environmental issues in the coming decades.

Fisheries

Michelle Donelan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of banning the landing of bass by fixed nets on reducing the incidence of accidental catching of those fish.

George Eustice: The EU bass measures that apply this year are intended to further reduce the landings of bass across all fishing gear groups – trawl, hook and line, and netting (both fixed and drift) as Member States work together to recover this important stock. Limited derogations from a complete ban were agreed for application this year, including a monthly limit of 250kg per eligible vessel to allow for limited landings of unavoidable by-catches when using fixed gillnets to catch fish other than bass. In the first six months of this year, we have seen a reduction of bass landings in the UK fleet netting gear group of 54% from the 2011-13 baseline average in the same period, i.e. 54 tonnes landed from January to June, down from 117 tonnes in the earlier six month baseline average.

Common Agricultural Policy: Scotland

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with Scottish farming stakeholders on the practicality of the Common Agricultural Policy's three crop policy; and how any successor programme will take cognisance of existing Scottish farm land bio diversity.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with Scottish farming stakeholders on the adequacy of the Common Agricultural Policy's set-aside policy; and how any successor programme will take cognisance of (a) Scottish land topography and (b) the standard farm in Scotland.

George Eustice: The Secretary of State discussed farming issues extensively on his visit to the Royal Highland Show in June. Ministers and officials continue to work closely with the Scottish Government and Scottish stakeholders on a future farming policy that works for all parts of the United Kingdom.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Brexit

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which EU legislation within his Department's responsibilities will (a) be incorporated into UK law through the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill and (b) require to be amended under powers in that Bill.

George Eustice: The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, published on 13 July, will end the supremacy of EU law in the UK, whilst also ensuring, so far as possible, that the same rules and laws will apply on the day after exit as on the day before. All government departments are currently reviewing the EU laws that apply in their policy areas and how our withdrawal from the EU will affect the operation of those laws. Where laws need to be fixed, the government will ensure this is done through the powers outlined in the Bill.

Agriculture

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support farmers and agri-producers after the UK leaves the EU.

George Eustice: Leaving the European Union means leaving the Common Agricultural Policy. We now have an opportunity to take back control of our policies on agriculture and the environment. This Government has pledged to continue to commit the same cash total in funds for farm support for the duration of this parliament, providing much needed certainty to farmers and landowners. Continued support is critically important, and so is reform. We need to take the opportunity that being outside the Common Agricultural Policy will give us to use public money to reward environmentally responsible land use. The Government has pledged to work with farmers, food producers and environmentalists across Britain to devise a new agri-environment system.

Environment

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department made during the Parliamentary summer recess on production of the 25-year plan for the environment.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: On 21 July, in his speech “Delivering a Green Brexit”, the Secretary of State announced that he had asked the Natural Capital Committee for their advice on the 25 Year Environment Plan. The Natural Capital Committee are due to submit their advice in September. The Department will consider that advice carefully ahead of the subsequent publication of the Plan.

Public Footpaths: Coastal Areas

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make it his policy to complete the England Coast Path by 2020.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Natural England is working to complete the England Coast Path by 2020.

Public Footpaths: Coastal Areas

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support the long-term maintenance and management of the England Coast Path.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The England Coast Path will be England’s newest national trail. When new coastal access rights commence, stretches become eligible for the same Natural England maintenance funding package that other English national trails receive. This funding also helps to support any necessary informal management measures to address nature conservation issues and action to reposition the route in the event of coastal erosion.

Incinerators

John Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of Eunomia's Residual Waste Infrastructure Review, Issue 12, published in July 2017, which concluded that there is overcapacity in the incinerator sector in the UK.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The incineration of waste with energy recovery (also known as energy from waste) plays an important role in diverting waste from landfill but is lower in the waste hierarchy, which prioritises prevention, recycling and the re-use of waste. We will consider the findings of Eunomia, on waste infrastructure capacity as we develop future policy on waste and resources.

Food: Origin Marking

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking in negotiations on the UK's exit from the EU to ensure that geographical indications from the UK continue to be recognised in the EU and that systems for such indications remain compatible across the UK and EU.

George Eustice: Countries outside the EU are already able to participate in the EU's Protected Food Name schemes when selling onto the EU market. In addition, the rules that currently govern the enforcement of Protected Food Names will be placed on a UK legal basis through the EU Withdrawal Bill. Whether the UK continues to protect EU Protected Food Names from other member states in the UK market will be a matter for negotiation. Some of the Geographical Indicator designations that the UK has, for instance protecting Scotch Whisky in the US, are governed by agreements outside the EU Protected Food Name scheme. The UK will continue to abide by WTO rules on the protection of Geographical Indicators globally.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to publish an assessment of the effectiveness of the trial of badger culls in Gloucestershire and Somerset as part of the Government's bovine TB strategy.

George Eustice: Assessments of the effectiveness of all badger culls undertaken from 2013 to 2016 have been published and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bovine-tb-controlling-the-risk-of-bovine-tb-from-badgers.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many and what proportion of badgers culled in the trials in Gloucestershire and Somerset were infected with bovine TB.

George Eustice: Badgers removed under licence during the pilot culls in Gloucestershire and Somerset were not routinely tested for TB. The RBCT and previous Road Traffic Accident surveys found TB in around one third of all badgers in these areas.

Ivory: Overseas Trade

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the level of ivory imports to and exports from the UK in each of the last five years.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Import and export permits for bringing ivory into and out of the UK are managed on behalf of Defra by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).The number of permits used for import in the last five years is shown below: YearIvory imports to the UKIvory (RE) exports from the UK20123321396201342817032014197144620151209642016314785  Data for 2017 is not yet available.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Government Assistance

Holly Lynch: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in how many cases his Department has made offers of financial support which were subsequently withdrawn because it was found to be in breach of EU state aid rules; and if he will make a statement.

George Eustice: There have been no instances where Defra has made offers of financial support which were subsequently withdrawn because it was found to be in breach of EU state aid rules in the last two years. Identifying possible cases of withdrawal from more than two years ago would entail disproportionate cost.

Recycling: Standards

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to meet the recycling targets of the EU's Circular Economy Package.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Defra has not prepared projections on the proportion of household waste expected to be recycled by 2030. The Circular Economy Package is still under negotiation and no agreement has yet been reached on recycling targets. The UK is assessing the potential implications of the proposals.

Recycling: Domestic Waste

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of household waste his Department expects England to recycle by 2030.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Defra has not prepared projections on the proportion of household waste expected to be recycled by 2030. The Circular Economy Package is still under negotiation and no agreement has yet been reached on recycling targets. The UK is assessing the potential implications of the proposals.

Badgers: Disease Control

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the cost of (a) administration, (b) delivery and (c) policing of badger culls in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

George Eustice: The cost of badger control between 2013 and 2016, including value for money analyses can be found on Gov.uk at:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bovine-tb-controlling-the-risk-of-bovine-tb-from-badgers.

Hunting Act 2004

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many people were (a) proceeded against and (b) convicted of an offence under the Hunting Act 2004 in each police force area in 2016.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The following information was provided by the Ministry of Justice. The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates’ courts and found guilty at all courts of offences under the Hunting Act 2004, in England and Wales, by police force area, in 2016, can be viewed in the attached table. 



Hunting Act prosecutions
(PDF Document, 40.9 KB)

Department for Exiting the European Union

Assisted Areas: Wales

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on the future map of assisted areas in Wales.

Mr Steve Baker: The longer term options for subsidy control after we leave the EU are being considered carefully. We will continue to engage with the devolved administrations as we seek a deal that secures the specific interests of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as all parts of England.

Technology: EU Grants and Loans

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what discussions he has had with British start-up technology companies on access to the European Investment Fund and other future funding arrangements for the sector after the UK leaves the EU.

Mr Steve Baker: Ministers and officials from across the Government are speaking with a variety of stakeholders from all sectors, including start-ups in the technology sector, to understand business concerns and priorities after EU exit. These discussions will inform our negotiating position.Details of Ministerial meetings are published in the Department’s Quarterly Transparency Returns, which are made publicly available on GOV.UK.UK projects that are in the process of securing finance from the European Investment Bank (EIB), and its subsidiary the European Investment Fund (EIF), have been affected as the EIB Group undertakes due diligence.The Chancellor and senior Treasury officials have been working very closely with EIB Group management to resolve these issues. The UK believes that UK firms should be able to access EIB and EIF funding on equal terms as other Member States while the UK remains a member of the EU, as the Chancellor set out in his Mansion House Speech.The government has put in place measures to ensure that UK firms which may no longer be able to access EIB Group finance receive the investment they need. The UK Guarantees Scheme will continue to support UK infrastructure investment and will, for the first time, offer guarantees for the construction phase of a project. The British Business Bank has also been authorised to raise the limit on its investment in individual projects from 33% to 50% and the government will bring forward planned investments in venture capital that were previously announced in the 2016 Autumn Statement.

EU Institutions: Cost Benefit Analysis

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, of which EU institutions and other EU-related bodies the UK is a member; and what assessment the Government has made of the financial cost and benefit to the UK of membership of those institutions and bodies.

Mr Steve Baker: Until the point of exit, the UK remains a full member of the European Union, its institutions and related bodies.We want to achieve a deep and special partnership between the UK and the European Union, but the precise nature of this future relationship is a matter for the negotiations.It would not be appropriate to publish information which might undermine our negotiating position – a principle that was overwhelmingly supported by the House of Commons in October last year.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Assets

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, in which of the last 10 years his Department has submitted a strategic asset management plan to the Government Property Unit.

Mr Steve Baker: Since the Department’s creation, no strategic asset management plan has been submitted to the Government Property Unit. The Department currently does not directly own or hold the head-lease for any building.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what proportion of requests for consultancy and temporary staff for his Department were approved via a resource board.

Mr Steve Baker: The Department for Exiting the European Union is committed to ensuring the best value for money when considering requests for consultancy and temporary staff. The Department has in place an approvals hierarchy by which all proposals for consultancy or temporary staff are reviewed and approved.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Secondment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many applications his Department has received for (a) internal loans and (b) secondments from civil servants in each year since 2010.

Mr Steve Baker: All staff that have joined from other Government departments have been on a loan basis. The Department will not provide a running commentary on the number of applications received as recruitment is ongoing and our numbers are regularly changing. The Department now has over 450 staff, of which over 350 staff are on loan from across the Civil Service.As a new department, the Department for Exiting the European Union is not in a position to report on the loans over the last 7 years.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Consultants

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what proportion of consultancy assignments procured by his Department are paid at a daily rate.

Mr Steve Baker: The Department for Exiting the European Union has not paid any consultancy assignments using a daily rate. Payment is based on project deliverables.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, whether requests for consultancy and temporary staff for the his Department must be accompanied by a formal business case.

Mr Steve Baker: The Department for Exiting the European Union is committed to ensuring the best value for money when considering requests for consultancy and temporary staff. The Department has in place an approvals hierarchy by which all proposals for consultancy or temporary staff are reviewed and approved, ensuring full commercial compliance and where necessary, the request will be accompanied by a business case.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Redundancy

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, pursuant to the Answer of 6 July 2017 to Question 3362, on redundancy, whether any staff from his Department have been made redundant.

Mr Steve Baker: Details of the number, type, compensation levels and cost of exits from The Department for Exiting the European Union are routinely published in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts. As set out in the 16/17 accounts, the Department did not incur any redundancy costs in 2016-17. This information will continue to be published in future Annual Reports and Accounts for the Department.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Cybercrime

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, whether the principle set out in paragraph 5.3.6 of the Government's Cyber Security Strategy that everyone who works in government has a sound awareness of cyber risk applies to members of staff employed by contractors doing work procured by his Department.

Mr Robin Walker: The department has a mandatory Security Induction briefing for all staff and contractors which covers cyber risk and typical cyber attack vectors, how to report these and the appropriate preventative action to take. This is over and above the annual mandatory e-learning on responsible information handling that must be completed by all staff and contractors. Cyber security advice is also emphasised during IT deployment.Our IT suppliers work with the security team to highlight cyber risks and maintain awareness on emerging cyber threats and mitigations. Our cyber team regularly present these to the board to maintain awareness at the highest level and send communications on suspected attacks e.g. spear phishing to all staff regularly.

Aviation

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, who will be the UK counterpart to Peter Sorensen, the European Commission lead on aviation matters in negotiations on the UK leaving the EU.

Mr Steve Baker: Seeking new aviation arrangements will be a priority for this Government when we begin discussions on our future relationship. Both parties want to achieve the best possible outcome for the strongest possible partnership in the future - one that works for the UK and for the EU. It is in the interests of both sides in the negotiation to maintain closely integrated aviation markets.To discuss aviation matters we will have a strong and experienced negotiating team that is able to draw together expertise from a wide range of departments where there is specific relevant knowledge relating to each issue that is to be negotiated. The make-up of this team is likely to vary from round to round as we deploy the best available staff for each issue under negotiation.

Attorney General

Rape: Prosecutions

Diana Johnson: To ask the Attorney General, (a) how many specialist rape prosecutors were employed by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in each of the 42 CPS areas and (b) how much was spent on those prosecutors in each year since 2009-10.

Jeremy Wright: The CPS currently operates across 14 geographical areas in England and Wales. Dedicated rape and serious sexual offences (RASSO) units were not introduced across the geographical areas until 2014. It is not possible for the CPS to provide reliable statistics with respect to prosecutor numbers working within these specialist units prior to 2015. Its records do show the number of prosecutors employed by the CPS in specialist RASSO units as at July 2015, June 2016 and May 2017.Number of Prosecutors working in specialist RASSO units:July 2015: 138June 2016: 185May 2017: 197The CPS financial records have only recently split RASSO units into separate cost centres so it is not possible to provide the exact historical spend on RASSO prosecutors for each year. The headcount figures can be translated into an equivalent annual spend based on the average total payroll cost[1] of employing Senior Crown Prosecutors in each year. In 2015 the approximate cost of employing RASSO prosecutors was £9.3 million. In 2016 the approximate cost was £12.8 million and in 2017 it is estimated that the cost will be £13.8 million.[1] Total payroll costs are inclusive of Employers National Insurance and Pension costs

Attorney General: Consultants

Jon Trickett: To ask the Attorney General, what proportion of consultancy assignments procured by the Law Officers' Departments are paid at a daily rate.

Jeremy Wright: The HM Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor Annual Report and Accounts 2016-17 which covers the expenditure of GLD, AGO and HMCPSI, discloses that expenditure on consultants has been kept to a minimum, with spend in 2016-17 of £7k. This figure relates to the cost of professional advice provided to HMCPSI, which was all on a daily rate.The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has not employed any consultants within the past financial year or during the current year.The CPS has not procured consultancy services during 2016/17 or during 2017/18 to date.

Emergency Services: Dangerous Driving

Louise Haigh: To ask the Attorney General, what plans he has to update guidance issued to prosecutors on charging emergency service drivers with careless or dangerous driving.

Jeremy Wright: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) issues legal guidance to prosecutors on road traffic offences. The CPS Road Traffic legal guidance as a whole is in the process of being updated. However the specific guidance in relation to the charging of drivers of emergency service vehicles and drivers in emergencies is felt to be current and comprehensive. As such there are no plans at present to update this section of the guidance.

Fraud: Convictions

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Attorney General, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the work of the Serious Fraud Office in investigating and securing convictions for fraud offences.

Jeremy Wright: The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has played an important role in the fight against serious and complex fraud, bribery and corruption. Between 2012/13 and 2016/17, 66 defendants were convicted from 94 who were prosecuted giving an overall defendant conviction rate of 70.2%. In terms of cases, 31 were successful out of 36. This gives a case conviction rate of 86.1%. In addition the SFO has concluded four deferred prosecution agreements.The SFO also works closely with other justice partners on tackling serious fraud, as well as participating in a number of strategic delivery and working groups.The SFO continues to work to improve performance and, following a report by Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) in May 2016, progress has been made to bolster governance and ensure greater efficiency.

Sentencing

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Attorney General, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the Unduly Lenient Sentences scheme to offences beyond those which are already covered by that scheme.

Jeremy Wright: The Government re-committed in our manifesto that we will extend the scope of the scheme. As a first step, an extension of the scheme to further terrorism offences came into effect last month. We are considering with the Lord Chancellor how further to fulfil our commitment to extending the scheme.

Motorcycles: Crime

Neil Coyle: To ask the Attorney General, how many prosecutions there have been for moped-enabled crimes in each London borough in each of the last seven years.

Jeremy Wright: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the number of defendants prosecuted for offences which involved the use of mopeds. This information could only be obtained by examining CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost.

Wales Office

Wales Office: Assets

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, in which of the last 10 years his Department has submitted a strategic asset management plan to the Government Property Unit.

Guto Bebb: The Wales Office is a government department with limited property assets. As such, the department has not been commissioned to prepare a Strategic Asset Management Plan. Information about the department’s property interests is available in the Wales Office Annual Report and Accounts and recorded on the Government Property Unit’s property database (e-PIMS).

Wales Office: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how much his Department has paid in letting fees for its estate in each year since 2010.

Guto Bebb: Nothing.

Wales Office: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many procurements undertaken by his Department have taken more than (a) three months, (b) six months, (c) one year and (d) two years.

Guto Bebb: None.

Wales Office: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how much his Department has received from sub-lets on its estate in each year since 2010.

Guto Bebb: The Wales Office has received no income from sub-lets on its estate since 2010. However, the department receives rental income for space let in its London office, which it owns in freehold.The information below sets out the rental income received in each financial year since 2010. Financial yearRental income (£)  2010-1102011-1212,0002012-139,0002013-1430,0002014-1551,0002015-1651,0002016-1751,000

Ministry of Justice

Judges: Training

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to ensure that all judges who hear rape cases have attended and completed a relevant course accredited by the Judicial College.

Dominic Raab: Under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 the responsibility for judicial training rests with the Lord Chief Justice and is exercised through the Judicial College. Since 2002, all judges who hear cases involving serious sexual offences have to be first authorised and are required to attend the specialist training provided by the Judicial College before hearing such cases. Listing, which is a judicial function, ensures that cases are allocated to those who are authorised and trained.

Prisoners: Discrimination

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many reports of (a) anti-Semitism, (b) Islamophobia, (c) racism and (d) homophobia by prisoners have been received in the last two years.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Hate Crime: Convictions

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether people convicted for hate crimes receive anti-racist or other relevant education as part of their rehabilitation.

Mr Sam Gyimah: I refer the Honourable Member to my answers to her on 14th July (PQ 3463 and PQ 3452).

Employment Tribunals Service: Fees and Charges

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much Civil Service time has been spent on legal challenges to tribunal fees in each year since 2013.

Dominic Raab: The information requested is not held.

Prison Sentences

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will review the effectiveness of short prison sentences and seek alternatives such as community sentences, electronic tagging and home curfew.

Dominic Raab: Sentencing is a matter for our independent judiciary, who decide whether a custodial sentence is justified and for how long, based on the law, sentencing guidelines and the circumstances of the case.In order to improve the rehabilitation of those serving short custodial sentences, the Offender Rehabilitation Act (2014) introduced supervision on release for offenders serving under 12 months and we will continue to monitor the effect of these changes.

Courts: Domestic Violence

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he will take steps to allow victims of domestic violence or abuse to give evidence either by video link or to be recorded at a separate time to the cross-examination of the accused.

Dominic Raab: As part of Special Measures introduced under the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 vulnerable and intimidated witnesses can give their evidence and be cross examined by video link remote from the court room or from another location away from the court building. Victims of domestic abuse have access to special measures if they are fearful or distressed. In such cases, they would fall into the category of an ‘intimidated’ witness.We are rolling out pre-trial cross examination for child and vulnerable victims and witnesses in the Crown Court and testing this provision for certain eligible intimidated victims in 3 Crown Court centres this autumn.

Criminal Injuries Compensation

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how long a victim has following a finding of guilt to make a claim to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) claims were made to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority and (b) such claims were successful in each of the last two years.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether a victim who is aged 16 or under at the time of an offence is eligible to make a claim to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.

Dr Phillip Lee: In respect of PQ 6900, I refer the honourable member to the answer given to PQ 6393 on 28 July 2017.The table below provides the information requested in PQ 6908, which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=criminal-injuries-compensation-authority:YearNumber of claims received by CICASuccessful claims2015/1632,41513,2662016/1731,56313,866 Claims that were successful in each of the two years were not necessarily received within those financial years. Therefore the number in the third column does not necessarily relate to the same group of cases as is listed in the second column. In respect of PQ 6901, a victim who is aged 16 or under at the time of the offence can make a claim to the CICA. Usually if they are still under 16 at the time they apply to CICA the parent or other person with parental responsibility for the child should complete an application on their behalf.

Courts: Domestic Violence

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he plans to take to ensure that victims of domestic violence or abuse are not cross-examined by the alleged perpetrator in a criminal, civil or family court.

Dr Phillip Lee: There are provisions within Sections 34 - 36 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 that gives a criminal court power to prohibit the accused from cross-examining a witness in person.We are determined to improve the family justice response to domestic abuse and intend to legislate to give family courts the power to prevent perpetrators of abuse from cross-examining their victims in person in family proceedings. We will consider how such measures might be applied in wider civil proceedings, taking account of lessons learnt from their implementation in the family courts.

Chelmsford Prison: Violence

Vicky Ford: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to address violence in HM Prison Chelmsford.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The level of violence in our prisons is unacceptable. We are fully committed to making prisons safer and addressing the significant increase in violence and assaults by increasing staffing levels and the ways of working in our prisons.The White Paper on Prison Safety and Reform announced a major shake-up of the prison system with 2,500 extra prisons officers and new security measures to tackle drones, phones and drugs. The additional 2,500 prison officers will allow us to introduce a new key worker role, in which all prison officers on wings will support a small caseload of prisoners, improving the quality of staff-prisoner relationships and tackling the drivers of each prisoner’s offending.The Governor at HM Prison Chelmsford leads on reducing violence and chairs thePrison Safety meeting. Chelmsford are using the Violence Diagnostic Tool to identify violence trends and with the support of the regional safety team they are working to address these. Five-minute intervention training is being delivered at Chelmsford which equips staff to turn everyday conversations into rehabilitative interventions.

Prisons: Staff

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many members of staff have been employed in each prison operated by (a) HM Prison Service and (b) each private prison operator in each year since 2010.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The government has committed to recruit a net increase of 2500 prison officers across public sector prisons by December 2018. In addition to the recruitment activity to fill these 2500 new posts, there is ongoing recruitment activity to fill current vacancies, and vacancies which arise. Information on the number of full time equivalent staff employed within public sector prisons and privately operated prisons can be found in the accompanying excel workbook.

Maximum Security Prisons: Staff

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many members of staff have been employed in each high security prison in each year since 2010.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The government has committed to recruit a net increase of 2500 prison officers by December 2018. In addition to the recruitment activity to fill these 2500 new posts, there is ongoing recruitment activity to fill current vacancies, and vacancies which arise due to retention rates of existing staff. The number of staff employed in each high security prison is provided in the table below. Number of HMPPS staff (FTE) employed in high security prisons, 2010-2017  31 March 201031 March 201131 March 201231 March 201331 March 201431 March 201531 March 201631 March 201730 June 2017Belmarsh891839820773695628598566553Frankland961937896860801760703713732Full Sutton735724698660622620552545559Long Lartin683665650656611576534505495Manchester845832795788689683645644670Wakefield715692650635568527501484491Whitemoor738720674658599564535509512Woodhill734728700667585546566580575Grand Total6,3036,1385,8825,6975,1714,9044,6334,5464,587

Prisoners: Gender Recognition

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of (a) male and (b) female prisons contains prisoners identified as transgender.

Dr Phillip Lee: According to a data collection exercise that took place between March and April 2016, there were 70 prisoners currently living in, or presenting in, a gender different to their sex assigned at birth. 26% of men’s prisons and 31% of women’s prisons contained at least one prisoner that identified as transgender.

Prisoners: Gender Recognition

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many investigations into the deaths of transgender prisoners the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman investigated in each year since 1997-98.

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many complaints related to black and ethnic minority equality issues in prisons the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman received in each year since 1997-98; and what proportion of the estimated black and ethnic minority prison population made a complaint in each year.

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many complaints relating to prisons the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman received in each year since 1997-98; and what proportion of the prison population made a complaint in each year.

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many complaints related to transgender equality issues in prisons the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman received in each year since 1997-98; and what those figures represent as a proportion of the estimated transgender prisoner population in each of those years.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The following tables show: 1) the numbers of fatal incident investigations of transgender prisoners; 2) complaints received about racial equality issues; 3) complaints received relating to prisons; and 4) complaints received about transgender issues: 1) Fatal incident investigations of transgender prisoners started, by financial year YearPPO fatal incident investigations started2012-201312013-201402014-201512015-201622016-20174Total9 2) Complaints received by the PPO about racial equality issues, by financial year YearComplaints ReceivedEligible for investigation2012-20133052013-201423132014-20152172015-201629152016-2017127 3) Complaints received relating to prisons, by financial year YearComplaints ReceivedEligible for investigation2012-20134,8942,7042013-20144,4382,0332014-20154,5822,3102015-20164,32,2882016-20174,6572,505  4) Complaints received by the PPO about transgender equality issues, by financial year YearComplaints ReceivedEligible for investigation2012-2013652013-2014312014-2015422015-20161062016-201754 We have been able to provide a consistent time series back to 2012/13. The time required to provide data going back to 1997/98 would incur disproportionate cost. We do not hold information on the overall proportion of the prison population that made a complaint or the proportion of the estimated transgender prisoner population for the time periods requested. There may be other similar cases where the PPO investigated a death but were not aware of the person having previously identified as transgender and therefore their death would not be included in these figures. The Government believes that prisons should be places of safety and reform. We welcome the work that the PPO has done to prevent self-inflicted deaths in custody, promote equality and inclusion, and improve safety in prisons more generally.

Prisoners: Gender Recognition

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average length of time taken was in each year since 2004-05 to transfer transgender prisoners who (a) did and (b) did not have a gender recognition certificate to prisons which correspond to the gender they identify as having.

Dr Phillip Lee: The information requested is not available, as transgender prisoners are under no obligation to provide a gender recognition certificate if they have one.The current Prison Service Instruction on the care and management of transgender offenders, issued in November 2016, sets out expected timescales for convening a transgender case board to consider the appropriate location for holding an individual prisoner. Timescales for transfer to a different prison location will depend upon individual circumstances, including the availability of suitable accommodation.

Offenders: Housing

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress his Department has made on ensuring that all prisoners have a place to live on release from prison.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Assisting offenders to secure suitable accommodation upon their release is a vital part of the Government’s approach to reducing reoffending. Through the commencement of the Homelessness Reduction Act (2017) and DCLG laying a statutory instrument. Prisons and Probation providers will be subject to the new duty to refer to the local housing authority someone who they support who might be at risk of becoming homeless. We continue to work with all providers to help make sure offenders get the support they need to find accommodation and employment on release.

Social Security Benefits: Appeals

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of appeals to the tribunal service from appellants in Glasgow East constituency for claims relating to (a) personal independence payment, (b) employment and support allowance, (c) income support, (d) jobseeker's allowance and (e) tax credits were successful in the latest period for which figures are available.

Dominic Raab: The table below contains the information requested. Proportion1of appeals decided in favour of the appellant at the Glasgow2 venue, in the latest period for which figures are available (2016 - 20176) Personal Independence Payments3  Employment and Support Allowance4  Income SupportJob  Seekers Allowance  Tax Credits557%66%45%43%50% 1 Proportion of decisions in favour, based on the number of appeals found in favour of the appellant as a % of the cases cleared at tribunal hearing. 2Social Security and Child Support data are attributed to the hearing venue nearest to the appellants’ home address. For appellants living in the Glasgow East constituency, this would be the Glasgow venue, but this venue will also hear appeals from other Glasgow constituencies. 3 Personal Independence Payment (New Claim appeals) which replaces Disability Living Allowance was introduced on 8 April 2013, and includes Personal Independence Payments (Reassessments). Volumes in 2013 to 2014 were very low. 4 Includes Employment and Support Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance (Reassessments).5Tax Credits includes Working Family Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit. 6 Financial year April to March. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and are the best data available.

Human Rights

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when his Department plans to consult on the legislative proposals to replace the Human Rights Act 1998.

Dr Phillip Lee: We shall consider further our human rights legal framework when the process of leaving the EU concludes, and consult fully on proposals in the full knowledge of the new constitutional landscape.The UK has a proud tradition of respect for human rights which long pre-dates the Human Rights Act 1998.

Reoffenders

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders received a fixed-term recall for (a) breaching the terms of their licence, (b) committing a further offence, (c) a combination of breaching their licence and reoffending and (d) any other reason in the latest year for which information is available.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The number of recalls to prison that were fixed-term, in England and Wales for the period April 2016 to March 2017 was 7,515 The only basis for recall is the breach of one or more licence conditions. In some cases, this may involve further offending. The information in the table below is taken from table 5.10 of the licence recalls workbook (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2017). Whereas the published table provides reason for recall for all recalled offenders, the table below only includes prisoners who have been recalled on a fixed term recall. Anyone who commits a crime while on licence may face prosecution and potentially more time in prison. For more serious offences, they can be held in prison on remand until trial. Shorter fixed-term recalls are only issued to offenders who don’t pose a risk of serious harm to the public.  Recall PeriodApr 2016 to  Mar 2017Further Charge2,795Non-compliance2,951Failed to keep in touch4,524Failed to reside1,487Drugs/alcohol442Other744 The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. Recall reasons do not sum to the total number of recalls as more than one reason can be recorded against each recall.

Sexual Offences: Victim Support Schemes

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, (a) how many Sexual Assault Referral Centres there were in each of the 42 Crown Prosecution Service areas and (b) how much was spent on those centres in each year since 2009-10.

Dr Phillip Lee: The Ministry of Justice does not hold primary responsibility for funding Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) and cannot provide the information requested.The Ministry of Justice provides core grant funding of c£63m to Police and Crime Commissioners to deliver/commission support services for victims of crime (including victims of sexual violence), with an additional c£4.7m specifically to support victims of child sexual abuse. PCC funding decisions relating to allocations to SARCs are made locally.In April 2013, NHS England took over the lead commissioning role for sexual assault referral centre commissioning. NHS England, with a range of partners in the health system (e.g. Clinical Commissioning Groups), Local Authorities and the Criminal Justice System (e.g. Police, Police and Crime Commissioners) is jointly responsible for the commissioning of a cost-effective, integrated response to sexual violence and rape in order to meet the needs of local populations.As part of the Government’s wider strategy for tackling sexual violence, the Ministry of Justice also allocates funding for rape support provision across England and Wales. This includes funding in 2017/18 of c£7.2m to 97 Rape Support Centres which provide direct support to male and female victims of sexual violence.

Witnesses: Protection

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, (a) how many witness care officers were employed in Witness Care Units and (b) how much was spent on Witness Care Units in each of the 42 Crown Prosecution Service areas in each year since 2009-10.

Dr Phillip Lee: The Ministry of Justice is not responsible for funding or provision of Witness Care Units and staff and cannot provide the information requested. The Ministry of Justice does fund the delivery of the court based Witness Service, delivered by Citizens Advice, which provides emotional and practical support to witnesses giving evidence at criminal courts across England and Wales.

Ministry of Justice: Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of requests for consultancy and temporary staff for his Department were approved via a resource board.

Dr Phillip Lee: None of the requests for Consultancy or Temporary staff are approved via a resource board. However, each request has a formal business case which must be approved via HR, Finance, and a Director General, before it can be progressed.

Ministry of Justice: Assets

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in which of the last 10 years his Department has submitted a strategic asset management plan to the Government Property Unit.

Dr Phillip Lee: The Government Property Unit has commissioned Strategic Asset Management Plans (SAMPs) from departments on an annual basis since 2014. The SAMP articulates the property aspects of a department's business and forms part of the overall planning framework in government linked to each Single Departmental Plan. In some cases, where there are significant changes to a department's remit (such as following a machinery of government change or major business reviews), the timing of a SAMP refresh may be aligned with the broader strategy for the department. Information is provided regularly to the Government Property Unit about the management of the department’s property assets and Executive Summaries of SAMPs will be published for the first time in Autumn 2017.

Ministry of Justice: Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether requests for consultancy and temporary staff for the his Department must be accompanied by a formal business case.

Dr Phillip Lee: We can confirm that all requirements within the last 12 month period for Consultancy and Temporary Staff followed a process for procurement which includes a formal business case to be completed.

Ministry of Justice: Secondment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications his Department has received for (a) internal loans and (b) secondments from civil servants in each year since 2010.

Dr Phillip Lee: The information requested is not held centrally.

Ministry of Justice: Redundancy Pay

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2017 to Question 3367, how much of the £2,415,060 paid in exit packages to Ministry of Justice staff was paid to (a) men and (b) women.

Dr Phillip Lee: Compensations payments are based on a calculation using the exit scheme tariff, length of service, pensionable salary, and pension scheme. Between 1 November 2016 and 31 March 2017, 56 employers left the department under a Voluntary Exit scheme, and the male female split of payments is shown in the following table; ExitsDeparturesCost (£) 562,415,060.16Male32£1,306,033.12Female24£1,109,027.04

Community Rehabilitation Companies: Training

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 12 July 2017 to Question 2785, what mechanisms are in place to ensure that community rehabilitation company staff are adequately trained.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 12 July 2017 to Question 2785, what mechanisms are in place to ensure that community rehabilitation company staff are paid a living wage.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Contracts with CRCs require each CRC to ensure that it employs a sufficient level of suitably trained staff. As I said in my response to PQ 7699, we manage providers robustly to make sure they fulfil their contractual commitments and take action where any provider falls short of its obligations.

Community Rehabilitation Companies: Finance

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much by each contract each community rehabilitation company in England and Wales received in additional funding above their agreed contracts in 2016-17.

Mr Sam Gyimah: A total of £37.15m was paid to CRCs above their agreed contracts in 2016/17. These payments were made for a variety of reasons and cannot be broken down by CRC because the information is commercially sensitive. Furthermore, some concessions were agreed with CRCs on a case-by-case basis to enable them to re-invest contractual payment deductions in key areas of the business and improve services.In addition, we have made changes to how CRCs are paid for future years so they can focus on activities that best rehabilitate offenders and keep society safe. This additional investment will see projected payments to providers being no higher than originally budgeted for at the time of the reforms. A summary of the variations can be found below. Relevant OJEU notices can be found at http://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:45770-2015:TEXT:EN:HTML&tabId=4

Ministry of Justice: Cybercrime

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the principle set out in paragraph 5.3.6 of the Government's Cyber Security Strategy that everyone who works in government has a sound awareness of cyber risk applies to members of staff employed by contractors doing work procured by his Department.

Dr Phillip Lee: The MoJ ensures that cyber security awareness of its staff and suppliers is at a level proportionate to the technical services they provide and their interaction with MoJ system. This is done through:Adherence to cyber security standards enforced through contracts,Required vetting at different levels for those with access to sensitive data or transactions,And generally raising awareness through various MoJ and National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) communications.

Ministry of Justice: Consultants

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of consultancy assignments procured by his Department are paid at a daily rate.

Dr Phillip Lee: We can confirm that within the last 12 month period, all consultancy assignments that have been procured via the Contract and Commercial Management Directorate were paid a daily rate calculated against a number of days to complete the programme.

Prisoners: Mental Illness

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) male and (b) female prisoners who have been identified with mental health issues (i) have been subsequently moved to a secure mental health hospital, (ii) are still in the prison where those issues were identified, (iii) have moved prison and (iv) have been moved to a bail hostel in each of the last seven years.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The total number of prisoners who have been transferred to a secure hospital under sections 47 or 48 of the Mental Health Act 1983 in each of the last seven years, and the numbers of those prisoners recorded as male or female are set out below:  2010201120122013201420152016Male1011881884994108410671071Female85123112107104106104Total109610049961101118811731175Data on how many (a) male and (b) female prisoners who have been identified with mental health issues (ii) are still in the prison where those issues were identified, (iii) have moved prison and (iv) have been moved to a bail hostel in each of the last seven years is not collected centrally. We take the mental health of prisoners extremely seriously, which is why we have increased the support available to vulnerable offenders - especially during the first 24 hours in custody - and invested more in mental health awareness training for prison officers. We are putting more funding into prison safety and have embarked on major Prison Safety Programme, in order to reduce the number of self-inflicted deaths and incidents of self-harm in our prisons. But we recognise that more can be done and continue to work in partnership with HMPPS, NHS England and Public Health England to improve mental health services for offenders at all points of the criminal justice system.

Reoffenders

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Serious Further Offence reviews were commenced in respect of offences allegedly committed by offenders who at the time were being supervised by the National Probation Service where the offender's period of supervision followed a prison sentence of 12 months or less in (a) 2015-16 and (b) 2016-17.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Serious Further Offence reviews were commenced in respect of offences allegedly committed by offenders who at the time were being supervised by community rehabilitation companies where the offender's period of supervision followed a prison sentence of 12 months or less in (a) 2015-16 and (b) 2016-17.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the categories of crime which trigger a Serious Further Offence review have changed in the last 10 years.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The table below provides the number of SFO reviews commenced in respect of offences allegedly committed by offenders who at the time were being supervised by the National Probation Service where the offender's period of supervision followed a prison sentence of 12 months or less in (a) 2015-16 and (b) 2016-17 YearNumber of reviews commenced2015-2016402016-201794  The table below provides the of SFO reviews commenced in respect of offences allegedly committed by offenders who at the time were being supervised by community rehabilitation companies where the offender's period of supervision followed a prison sentence of 12 months or less in (a) 2015-16 and (b) 2016-17YearNumber of reviews commenced2015-2016272016-201772   Since the Government’s probation reforms, any offender who has served any time in prison will be subject to probation requirements. This means that the number of people on probation is significantly higher than it was before the reforms were introduced. It is, therefore, not possible to make a like-for like comparison between the numbers of serious further offences reviews undertaken before and after the reforms. Keeping the public safe is our top priority and offenders on licence are subject to a strict set of conditions on release. A thorough investigation is always carried out when someone commits a serious further offence to see whether anything could have been done differently. The categories of crime which trigger a SFO review were changed in 2008. The offence of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm was removed from the list of qualifying offences which trigger a mandatory SFO review. There have been no further change to the list of qualifying offences.

Community Rehabilitation Companies: Standards

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the (a) performance and (b) effectiveness of community rehabilitation companies in carrying out their statutory duties in the last 12 months.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) play a crucial role in delivering probation services . Following an internal review of the probation system we have amended CRC contracts to reflect more accurately the fixed costs of delivering services to offenders. We are exploring with providers further improvements that could be made to the delivery of rehabilitative services.We closely monitor and robustly manage CRCs to make sure they fulfil their contractual commitments. Data on CRC performance against service levels is published quarterly, with the latest data published in July: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-performance-quarterly-and-annual-2016-to-2017. The first set of final reoffending data for offenders supervised by CRCs will be published in October 2017; thereafter data will be published quarterly.

Community Rehabilitation Companies

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether any additional funds above the agreed contract for 2016-17 were given to community rehabilitation companies in England and Wales.

Mr Sam Gyimah: A total of £37.15m was paid to CRCs above their agreed contracts in 2016/17. These payments were made for a variety of reasons and cannot be broken down by CRC because the information is commercially sensitive. Furthermore, some concessions were agreed with CRCs on a case-by-case basis to enable them to re-invest contractual payment deductions in key areas of the business and improve services.In addition, we have made changes to how CRCs are paid for future years so they can focus on activities that best rehabilitate offenders and keep society safe. This additional investment will see projected payments to providers being no higher than originally budgeted for at the time of the reforms. A summary of the variations can be found below. Relevant OJEU notices can be found at http://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:45770-2015:TEXT:EN:HTML&tabId=4

Ministry of Justice: Brexit

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which EU legislation within his Department's responsibilities will (a) be incorporated into UK law through the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill and (b) require to be amended under powers in that Bill.

Dominic Raab: The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill will convert European Union law into UK law as it applies in the UK at the moment of exit. This will ensure that, wherever possible, the same rules and laws will apply the day after exit as they did before.The Government is still making a detailed assessment of what corrections will be required to make that law function appropriately on exit day. The Government’s current estimate is that we will need to make between 800 and 1,000 statutory instruments to make exit a reality in UK law.The Ministry of Justice is responsible for EU legislation in fields such as civil and family justice, legal aid, legal services and some aspects of criminal justice.

Employment Tribunals Service: Fees and Charges

Angela Crawley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many employment tribunal claimants (a) paid fees and (b) have had those fees refunded since 2013.

Dominic Raab: We do not collect centrally information on the number of individual claimants who paid a fee in the Employment Tribunals. The number of fee payments received in the Employment Tribunals between 29 July 2013 (when fees were introduced) and 31 March 2017 is published at the following location: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognitions-certificates-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2017-and-2016-to-2017, and is updated quarterly.We said, following the handing down of the Supreme Court’s judgment in the case of R (Unison) v the Lord Chancellor, that we would put in place arrangements to refund those people who had paid fees in the Employment Tribunals as soon as possible. We will announce the details shortly.

Crimes of Violence: Acids

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress the Government has made on plans to strengthen sentencing powers for acid attacks.

Dominic Raab: The government published an action plan in July to tackle the use of acid and other corrosives in violent attacks. The action plan will ensure legislation covering the use of acid and other corrosives in attacks is fit for purpose, that it is understood and consistently applied.

Ministry of Justice: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many procurements undertaken by his Department have taken more than (a) three months, (b) six months, (c) one year and (d) two years.

Dr Phillip Lee: The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Extradition: Rwanda

Mr Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the cost was in each of the last 11 years to the public purse of the extradition proceedings against the five Rwandan genocide suspects living in Britain Dr Vincent Bajinya, Charles Munyaneza, Emmanuel Nteziryayo, Celestin Ugirashebuja and Celestin Mutabaruka in respect of legal aid.

Dominic Raab: The table below provides figures for total legal aid costs relating to extradition proceedings for each of the individuals named.  2006 to 20092013 to 2017Total extradition costs paidCharles Munyaneza£671,400.00£295,279.08£966,679.08Celestin Ugirashebuja£225,017.03£360,130.15£585,147.18Celestin Mutabaruka £322,504.90£322,504.90Vincent Bajinya£170,744.75 £170,744.75Emmanuel Nteziryayo £17,131.50£17,131.50

Ministry of Justice: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has received from sub-lets on its estate in each year since 2010.

Dominic Raab: The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Ministry of Justice: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has paid in letting fees for its estate in each year since 2010.

Dominic Raab: The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Personal Independence Payment: Appeals

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases involving personal independence payments were awaiting tribunal hearings (a) three months ago, (b) six months ago and (c) one year ago.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases involving personal independence payments are awaiting a tribunal hearing.

Dominic Raab: The information requested up to March 2017, the latest period for which figures are available, is in the table below. Personal Independence Payments 1 – Outstanding Live 2 CaseloadMarch 201746,026September 201625,806 Notes  Personal Independence Payment (New Claim Appeals), which replaced Disability Living Allowance, on 8 April 2013, also includes Personal Independence Claims (Reassessments).  2 There are always a number of ‘live’ appeals at the various stages of processing before being listed for a tribunal hearing, and not just those waiting for a listing date to be allocated. The data also include appeals which may not require a final hearing; have had an initial hearing but have not had a final decision; or are stayed, pending the outcome of other proceedings. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and are the best available. We have been working with the tribunal judiciary to identify initiatives with potential to increase the capacity and performance of the Tribunal, including reviewing current listing practices to increase the number of Personal Independence Payment cases being able to be listed on a session. We are also in the process of recruiting over 400 judicial officer holders to provide long term capacity in the tribunal.

Employment Tribunals Service

Mr Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases have been brought before employment tribunals in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each year since 2010.

Dominic Raab: In line with the Employment Tribunals data retention policy cases from the live databases are archived 12 months after they are concluded and as such personalised data (constituency) is no longer available. In view of this we can only give numbers for claims accepted from October 2016 to March 2017 in line with the published stats. The table below shows the number of accepted claims against businesses in each of these areas from October 2016 to March 2017.  SinglesMultiplesTotalJarrow Consituency1729South Tyneside2206261 Jarrow Constituency taken as accepted claims submitted within the postcode area NE31 & NE32.2 South Tyneside taken as accepted claims submitted within the postcode area NE31, NE34, NE10, NE33, NE32, NE36, NE37 & SR6Employment Tribunal claims are distributed according to the respondent’s address.Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and is the best data that is available.The data may differ slightly to that of the published stats as this data was run on a different date. The data for the North East and UK receipts can be obtained from the published statics using the link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognitions-certificates-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2017-and-2016-to-2017. Due to changes in the type of data published, the regional information was not published previously, as a result data covering 2010 and 2011 have not been provided.

Prisons: Electronic Cigarettes and Tobacco

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) e-cigarettes and (b) tobacco products were sold in prison shops in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Numbers of units of e-cigarettes, vaping products and tobacco items sold in prisons in England and Wales in each month for the last year are as set out in the attached annex.Prisons are rolling out the smoke free policy, subject to a series of assessments which will test the operational stability, readiness and health readiness of the prisons to implement the policy in a safe, decent and secure way. HMPPS’ health partners in England and Wales are fully involved in supporting prisoners with appropriate smoking cessation services in place.The open estate across England and Wales has been smoke free indoors since October 2015.

Prison Governors

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison governors have worked at two or more other prisons in the last five years.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The information requested is not held centrally.

Prison Officers

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers have been sent on detached duty to fill staffing gaps in other prisons in the last 12 months.

Mr Sam Gyimah: 117 prison officers have been deployed on detached duty (DD) on average for each of the last 12 months.Prison officers are deployed on DD under national and regional arrangements, for a number of reasons, including to fill staffing gaps in other prisons. The number deployed on DD each month varies according to operational pressures. Over the course of twelve months individuals may (through choice) be deployed on DD on more than one occasion.

Prison Officers: Labour Turnover

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers recruited in the last 12 months have subsequently resigned from their post.

Mr Sam Gyimah: In the 12 months to 30 June 2017, 2,640 band 3-5 prison officers joined HMPPS. Of these, 123 (4.7%) subsequently resigned from their post.Latest information on the number of newly recruited prison officers can be found in Table 8a in the HMPPS workforce statistics bulletin, at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/her-majestys-prison-and-probation-service-workforce-quarterly-june-2017

Prisoners: Suicide

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much the Prison and Probation Ombudsman has spent on investigations into self-inflicted deaths in 2016-17.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman spent approximately £1.3 M on investigations into self-inflicted deaths in 2016-17. This covers the salary costs of managers, investigators, and administrative staff including interview transcribers, family liaison officers, and fees for call-off investigators. It also includes travel and incidental expenses.

Prison Sentences

Mr Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will give the Parole Board the authority to decide when a hearing can be held to consider the cases of those with imprisonment for public protection sentences who are still in prison.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Secretary of State sets by delegated authority to officials the next review date of prisoners serving the IPP sentence and who have completed their tariff. He does so with regard to the work (including but not only courses) which the prisoner needs to complete in order to reduce his risk and so present the Parole Board with evidence to support release.IPP offenders are entitled to be considered for release at least every two years or less once their tariff has expired. The Secretary of State may set a short review date, where the prisoner has completed risk reduction work and so has the evidence which the Parole Board needs to direct his release.We have been working closely with the Parole Board to process these cases as quickly as possible and, earlier this year, we set up a new unit focused on this and improving the efficiency of the parole process.This work is continuing to achieve results, with 576 IPP releases in 2016; the highest number of annual releases since the sentence became available in 2005.”

Prisoners' Transfers

Mr Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reason the recommendation from Abigail Rogers at the Public Protection Casework Section of the Parole Board in her letter dated 19 May 2017 that a prisoner be transferred to an open conditions prison has not yet been acted upon.

Mr Sam Gyimah: If the Hon member writes with further details I will look into the case for him.

Cabinet Office

Cabinet Office: Automation

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the savings to the public purse as a result of the robotic process automation campaign put out to tender by his Department; and what the evidential basis was for that estimate.

Caroline Nokes: Services under the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Partnership contract began on 4 September 2017 and there is not currently enough analysis on which to base an estimate of potential savings or improvements to public services. The initial focus of the contract is to develop a Centre of Excellence that promotes RPA across government and helps Departments identify suitable opportunities for automation. The initial services are being provided at the supplier's cost and we will only pay for services where we agree terms for full development and deployment of RPA applications into Departments.

Civil Servants: Recruitment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to data published by the Office for National Statistics in July 2017, how many of the 555 additional staff employed in digital, data and technology roles in the Civil Service since March 2016 were recruited (a) internally and (b) externally.

Caroline Nokes: The information requested is not held centrally and would incur disproportionate costs to determine.

Office for Statistics Regulation

Douglas Ross: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse was of the Office for Statistics Regulation in each of the last two years; and how many (a) full and (b) part-time equivalent staff are employed at that office.

Douglas Ross: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the devolved administrations make a financial contribution to the Office of Statistics Regulation.

Chris Skidmore: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

Civil Servants: Recruitment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of what changes have resulted in the outcomes of Civil Service recruitment since the introduction of name-blind and school-blind recruitment.

Caroline Nokes: The Civil Service is committed to becoming the most inclusive employer in the UK and as such works hard to understand the impact of recruitment on the diversity of its workforce.Anonymised recruitment, less formally referred to as ‘name blind’ recruitment, is just one of these initiatives and is intended to assure candidates that people are assessed on the basis of the evidence that they present.There is a significant focus on diversity and this policy is important as part of a wider suite of evidence based initiatives that when implemented together are more likely to have a positive impact on the diversity of the Civil Service.

Civil Servants: Apprentices

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil service apprenticeships have been (a) awarded and (b) completed in each year since they were introduced.

Caroline Nokes: Since the Civil Service Apprenticeship Strategy was introduced in 2015, the current number of Civil Service Apprenticeship starts is confirmed at 7,709 (last collected on 31st March 2017). The Civil Service does not yet have data on completed apprenticeships but began recording this information in April 2016. The Civil Service is on track to achieve its target of 30,000 apprenticeship starts by 2020 as laid out in the Apprenticeship Strategy.

Senior Civil Servants: Recruitment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many times executive search firms have been contracted for the purpose of recruitment into the Civil Service since 2015.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much has been spent on executive search firms contracted for the purpose of recruitment into the Civil Service since 2015.

Caroline Nokes: Departments are responsible for their own recruitment, with around 40% of Senior Civil Service vacancies through the centralised Executive Recruitment service. There is no central collection of recruitment information across government or the associated spend.

Cybercrime: Training

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the gender breakdown is of the young people who have completed the Government's CyberFirst programme.

Caroline Nokes: The CyberFirst programme covers a range of activities; a bursary scheme, girls only competition and development events for students aged between 11-17 years. For the CyberFirst bursary programme 2016/2017 the gender breakdown was 21% female, 79% male. The 2017/2018 campaign is still ongoing but of those candidates that have applied so far, 23% are female. 43% of attendees at 2017 CyberFirst development events were female.

National Cyber Security Centre: Staff

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many members of staff are employed in the National Cyber-Security Centre.

Caroline Nokes: The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) was established formally on 3 October 2016. At that time, the NCSC had a team of approximately 700 people. For reasons of National Security, we will not be providing further releases on staff numbers and recruitment.

Government Departments: Cybercrime

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many ransomware cyber attacks on central Government departments there have been by year since 2010.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many distributed denial of service cyber attacks on central Government Departments have occurred in each year since 2010.

Caroline Nokes: One of the four principal objectives of the new National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is to respond to cyber security incidents to reduce the harm they cause to the UK. Since its formation, the NCSC has managed approximately 60 serious incidents affecting government and industry each month. The total number of cyber incidents affecting central government departments, including DDoS attacks and ransomware infections, is not centrally recorded.

National Cyber Security Centre: Staff

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many staff members of the National Cyber-Security Centre were recruited (a) from within and (b) externally to the Civil Service.

Chris Skidmore: The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) was established formally on 3 October 2016. At that time, the NCSC had a team of approximately 700 people. For reasons of National Security, we will not be providing further releases on staff numbers and recruitment.

Cybercrime: Training

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many young people have completed the Government's CyberFirst programme.

Caroline Nokes: The CyberFirst programme covers a range of activities; a bursary scheme, development events for students aged between 11-17 and girls only competition. 96 young adults were offered a place on the CyberFirst bursary programme in 2016/2017. 987 students aged between 14-17 attended CyberFirst development events in 2017, and the 2017 girls only CyberFirst events attracted 8000 participants from schools across the UK.

Public Sector: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many reports to the Government Mystery Shopper service have related to non-payment in each year since that service was established.

Caroline Nokes: Although the Government is leading by example in best payment practice, we are committed to making further improvements across the public sector, and the Mystery Shopper Service has played an increasingly important role in achieving this. The Mystery Shopper Service has investigated the following cases related to payment issues, including payment terms and late payment, up to 6 September 2017:   2010-1102011-1232012-13142013-14122014-15112015-16172016-17432017-18 (to date)11

Public Sector: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the value of contracts awarded to Government strategic suppliers was that are listed in the document entitled Crown Representatives and Strategic Suppliers of July 2017.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Government next plans to update its list of strategic suppliers.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Crown Representatives listed in the Government's List of Crown Representatives and Strategic Suppliers of July 2017 have any other professional duties.

Caroline Nokes: The Strategic Supplier list was most recently updated on 16 August 2017. The list is updated as changes are made to Crown Representatives or as suppliers are added to or removed from the list. Since January 2011, details of central government contracts above the value of £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder. Contracts published prior to 26 February 2015 can be viewed at:https://data.gov.uk/data/contracts-finder-archive Those published after 26 February 2015 can be viewed athtttps://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search The Crown Representatives do have other professional duties, which vary depending on the individual. The other professional duties they hold ensure they retain current experience and insight into industry. This allows them to be effective in their Crown Representative capacity. The Cabinet Office has a governance process in place whereby the Crown Representatives declare any conflicts of interests both on appointment and every 6 months.

Cybercrime

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much the Government has invested in the UK's cyber security in the last six months; and on what projects the £1.9 billion of funding outlined in the National Cyber Security Strategy 2016 has been spent.

Caroline Nokes: National Cyber Security Programme funding is allocated on a yearly basis in line with financial years. In FY 16/17 government invested £229m of the £1.9bn to support key projects set out in the NCSS, including: Establishing the National Cyber Security Centre,Producing a series of Active Cyber Defence measures which are currently helping to defend public sector systems against cyber attacks, andDeveloping cyber security industry and skills through creating Innovation Centres and supporting the successful CyberFirst Programme.

Cybercrime

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress is being made on the Government's aim to increase the scale and development of GCHQ, Ministry of Defence and National Crime Agency capabilities to disrupt the most serious cyber threats to the UK as set out in paragraph 5.1.3 of the Government's National Cyber Security Strategy 2016 to 2021.

Caroline Nokes: Deterring and disrupting hostile cyber activity against the UK is an important objective of the National Cyber Security Strategy. Good progress is being made by GCHQ, including the newly established National Cyber Security Centre, and the Ministry of Defence and the National Crime Agency in developing world-class capabilities and skills for this purpose. This activity is being conducted under the auspices of the National Offensive Cyber Programme and the National Cyber Security Programme.

Cybercrime

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress the Government is making on moving towards automated information sharing so that cyber security systems automatically alert each other to incidents or attacks, as set out in paragraph 5.6.8 of the Government's National Cyber Security Strategy 2016 to 2021.

Caroline Nokes: The Government’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is developing an operational capability to exchange cyber threat information at scale, using open standards, with organisations in the UK and international partners. Following an initial trial, NCSC is evaluating a number of commercial offerings, and their integration into NCSC’s threat-intelligence systems, to ensure the effective delivery of this capability.

Cybercrime

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress the Government is making on (a) providing the advice that the economy needs to protect itself and (b) improving how that advice is given in order to maximise its effect as set out in paragraph 5.5.3 of the Government's National Cyber Security Strategy 2016 to 2021.

Caroline Nokes: The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) provides advice and guidance to citizens and organisations through a wide range of means including its website, events, bespoke engagement and the Cyber Information Sharing Partnership (CISP). Government also issues advice on the simple steps that individuals and small businesses can take to protect themselves through its ‘CyberAware’ campaign, delivered in partnership with industry, the third sector and law enforcement. We continually seek to improve the quality and relevance of all advice.

Cybercrime

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress is being made on the Government's aim to provide automated protections for Government online services to the citizen as set out in paragraph 5.1.3 of the Government's National Cyber Security Strategy 2016 to 2021.

Caroline Nokes: The government's Active Cyber Defence (ACD) programme has launched, with four key services already used by Departments to protect their online services. This in turn protects the citizen by reducing the risk of malicious content reaching victims, such as email fraud from criminals posing as government departments. The ACD programme is also working with the private sector to actively take down phishing sites, which will also reduce the likelihood of the citizen being tricked by criminals online.

Local Government: Third Sector

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment the Government has made of the level of threat posed by cyber attacks to charities or third sector bodies contracted to do work for local authorities or providing a public service in conjunction with those authorities.

Caroline Nokes: The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) regularly assesses the level of threat posed to a wide range of organisations. The NCSC also works with other organisations, including the Charity Commission, to ensure that assessment information, tailored advice, and guidance is provided to organisations where appropriate and relevant.

Grenfell Tower: Fires

Diana Johnson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire will investigate the regularity and quality of (a) Portable Appliance Testing and (b) Fixed Wire Testing at that tower.

Caroline Nokes: The Inquiry’s terms of reference are: (i) to examine the circumstances surrounding the fire at Grenfell Tower on 14 June2017, includingthe immediate cause or causes of the fire and the means by which it spread to the whole of the building:the design and construction of the building and the decisions relating to its modification, refurbishment and management;the scope and adequacy of building regulations, fire regulations and other legislation, guidance and industry practice relating to the design, construction, equipping and management of high-rise residential buildings;whether such regulations, legislation, guidance and industry practice were complied with in the case of Grenfell Tower and the fire safety measures adopted in relation to it;the arrangements made by the local authority or other responsible bodies for receiving and acting upon information either obtained from local residents or available from other sources (including information derived from fires in other buildings) relating to the risk of fire at Grenfell Tower, and the action taken in response to such information;the fire prevention and fire safety measures in place at Grenfell Tower on 14 June 2017;the response of the London Fire Brigade to the fire; and the response of central and local government in the days immediately following the fire;(ii) to report its findings to the Prime Minister as soon as possible and to make recommendations. The Chair of the independent public inquiry will determine what areas the Inquiry will look into within these terms of reference.

Government Communication Service: Secondment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many secondments have been organised form (a) the Government Communication Service (GCS) to outside of government and (b) outside of Government to the GCS since the inception of that body.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants are employed by the Government Communication Service.

Caroline Nokes: The Government Communication Service (GCS) is the professional body for people working in communication roles across Government. Records containing the information requested in these Questions are not held centrally and replies would incur disproportionate costs. The GCS aims to deliver world-class public service communications that support Government priorities, enable the efficient and effective operation of public services and improve people’s lives.

Government Departments: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to figure 16 on page 44 of the National Audit Office's report, Progress on the government estate strategy (HC 1131), published on 25 April 2017, what the evidential basis is for the £40 million in savings made from the reduction in Environment Agency depot costs.

Caroline Nokes: The figure is based on the Warehouse, Storage & Depots portfolio strategy and refers to potential benefits arising from implementing a networked logistics capability for EA that would result in a consolidated number of depots, and more intensive use of capital equipment. This strategy is being further developed with departments.

Ministry of Justice: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to figure 16 on page 44 of the National Audit Office's report, Progress on the government estate strategy (HC 1131), published on 25 April 2017, how the speculative figure of £62 million in savings from the Ministry of Justice custodial estate was calculated by the Government Property Unit.

Caroline Nokes: The figure illustrates the potential savings from expert advisory services on large portfolios, such as the custodial estate. Savings are based on realising 1% of the in-scope portfolio value based on data from Government’s e-PIMs system. This strategy is being further developed with departments.

Government Property Unit

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government Property Unit has produced a full business case for the (a) Hubs programme and (b) New Property Model.

Caroline Nokes: The latest iteration of the Hubs programme business case was approved by HMT in July 2017. An Outline Business Case for the New Property Model was approved by HMT in January 2017. A full business case for the New Property Model is currently being prepared for review and approval during third quarter of FY2017/18

Government Departments: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will list the Government departments that participated in the live trials of the New Property Model.

Caroline Nokes: Cabinet Office, DfID & BEIS are participants during the Shadow Running period of the New Property Model.

Government Departments: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans he has to publish the results of the Government Property Unit's live trials of the New Property Model.

Caroline Nokes: Shadow running of the Government Property Agency is currently underway to test and trial processes and systems prior to Go-Live to ensure it has the capacity and capability to deliver. This includes undergoing robust governance and assurance processes which will inform the Go-Live decision.

Government Departments: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the timetable is for the completion of each strategic hub in the Government's estate strategy.

Caroline Nokes: We anticipate each strategic hub to take up to two years to be ready for occupation. The timescales will vary depending on whether the hub is an existing building requiring refurbishment or a new build to be fitted out.We have announced eight government hubs that will be ready for occupation by 2020.The strategic hubs will be rolled out in controlled phases, across the UK, to meet future departmental workforce predictions. Departments begin moving to 10 South Colonnade, Canary Wharf, in phases, from September 2017 to September 2018.

Government Departments: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to publish the new charging mechanism for the New Property Model.

Caroline Nokes: The overarching framework of the charging mechanism is currently in development with input from HMT and Finance colleagues in Departments. The exact mechanism is being be tailored to the requirements and the nature of the individual departments. This will be an ongoing process. By its very nature the charging mechanism will be commercial in confidence and not intended for publication but will conform to relevant HMT guidelines.

Government Departments: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of applications made to the Government Property Unit to renew or extend leases have been rejected in each year since 2012.

Caroline Nokes: The National Property Control Policy encourages organisations to engage with the Cabinet Office before a formal expenditure submission request is made to increase effectiveness of controls and produce a quicker turnaround time. As such the proportion of applications ultimately rejected is low as these are flushed out before an application is made. Since 1 April 2016, 126 applications have been received and of these 2 have ultimately been rejected following full engagement. A rejection rate between 1-2% is typical for prior years.

Government Departments: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of applications for lease renewals or extensions made to the Government Property Unit are after the specified time in each year since 2012.

Caroline Nokes: The National Property Control Policy encourages organisations to engage early with the Cabinet Office. The proportion of applications for approval of expenditure received retrospectively is low. Since 1 April 2016, 126 applications have been received and of these GPU are aware of 3 which were received after the lease event. A rate between 2-3% for retrospective approval is likely typical for prior years.

Government Property Unit

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many times the Government Property Unit met with the head of estates in each Department in the last 12 months.

Caroline Nokes: The Government Property Unit meets with departmental heads of estates on a formal basis regularly and additionally there are many routine contacts on operational business. The Government Property Unit runs a governance board attended by departmental Property Leaders every two months. They further meet individual Departments for bilateral meetings at regularly agreed intervals throughout the year, the frequency being dependent on the size and significance of an individual Department's property portfolio.

Government Departments: Property

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if the Government Property Unit will require each strategic hub to (a) monitor and (b) publish the costs and savings they achieve.

Caroline Nokes: Like all major government programmes and projects, the Government Hubs Programme has internal reporting procedures to monitor against Programme plans and benefits and is also subject to possible parliamentary scrutiny.Annually, the Government publishes The State of the Estate report which includes the cost of running the estate. There are no plans to change this arrangement.

Cabinet Office: Cybercrime

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the principle set out in paragraph 5.3.6 of the Government's Cyber Security Strategy that everyone who works in government has a sound awareness of cyber risk applies to members of staff employed by contractors doing work procured by his Department.

Caroline Nokes: The Cabinet Office is committed to ensuring that contractors and their staff have a sound awareness of cyber risk matters and they take all necessary safeguards to protect the department’s information.Cyber security awareness, the need to ensure contractual compliance with Information Assurance standards such as ISO 27001:2013 certification and “Cyber Essentials/ Plus” is specified in contract specifications and reviewed as part of the evaluation process. Contractors must comply with the department’s IT security policies and procedures.

Crown Commercial Service: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many procurements undertaken in the last five years by the Crown Commercial Service have taken longer than (a) three months, (b) six months, (c) one year and (d) two years to let.

Caroline Nokes: The following data relates to competitive tenders for contracts and framework agreements above the OJEU threshold run by the Crown Commercial Service up to 6 September 2017: Year3-6 months6-12 months1-2 yearsover 2years2013-14113202014-15154002015-16178002016-17225002017-18 (to date)12000

One Public Estate Programme

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much funding has been allocated to the One Public Estate programme in each of the last three years.

Caroline Nokes: One Public Estate was allocated £6m at Summer Budget 2015 to expand the programme. A further £31m was allocated at Autumn Statement 2015 (£13m in 16/17 and £18m in 17/18) to expand the programme even further, aiming to reach 95% of councils in England by March 2018.

Government Departments: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the timetable is for the Government Property Unit to establish the regional hubs.

Caroline Nokes: We aim to create around 18 - 22 strategic hubs across the UK by 2023. The exact number and location of each hub will be subject to future departmental workforce predictions.We have announced eight government hubs that will be ready for occupation by 2020.

Government Property Unit

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans he has to increase the amount of property-management expertise available to the Government Property Unit.

Caroline Nokes: The Government Property Unit and the shadow Government Property Agency have a planned approach to the technical skills needed in their roles, aligned to the Government Property Profession competencies. They operate a balanced economy of interim and permanent resource to address particular peaks/specialist skills and ongoing work required. A dedicated budget for staff learning and development is also in place, linked to personal performance objectives and underpinned by a technical and general skills curriculum.

Government Departments: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to ask for funding from the public purse for his Department or any of its arm's-length bodies to invest in surplus property for disposal or re-let.

Caroline Nokes: Any decision to invest in surplus property for disposal or relet will be made on a case by case basis and will also take into account funding available from the Department or the arm’s length bodies concerned, if it provides value for money.

Government Departments: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost per head is of the office space used by the Government Estate, by region of the UK.

Caroline Nokes: The state of the estate report 2015-16 contains property cost per FTE by department (in Appendix G) and the regional breakdown is set out below: RegionProperty cost* per FTE in 2015-16East Midlands£3,700East of England£3,730London£7,920North East£2,660North West£3,444Northern Ireland£3,864Scotland£3,944South East£3,993South West£2,909Wales£3,472West Midlands£3,613Yorkshire and the Humber£3,565 * Property cost is the sum of the following costs: Rental Value, Net Unitary Charge, Net Rental Value, Rates, and Total Operational Costs. Figures are derived from data supplied by Departments.

Government Departments: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department is on track to launch the Government Property Agency in September 2017.

Caroline Nokes: Shadow running of the Government Property Agency is currently underway to test and trial processes and systems prior to Go-Live to ensure it has the capacity and capability to deliver. This includes undergoing robust governance and assurance processes which will inform the Go-Live decision.

Government Departments: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government Property Unit keeps a record of the conditions attached to agreements to extend or renew lets with Government Departments.

Caroline Nokes: GPU records the conditions attached to agreement for lease extensions and renewals in the approval issued to departments for expenditure as part of the operation of the National Property Control.

One Public Estate Programme

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the running costs of the One Public Estate programme were in each year since that programme started.

Caroline Nokes: One Public Estate started as a pilot programme in 2013. Programme running costs have increased each year in line with the programme’s expansion, as detailed in the table below. Programme running costs in 2013/14 - 2016/17 totalled £3,249,471.Financial Year Programme Running Costs2013-14£191,7102014-15£411,9982015-16£738,8222016-17£1,906,941Sub Total£3,249,4712017-18 (forecast)2,026,922

Government Departments: Consultants

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many applications for approval to appoint consultants for assignments that extend beyond nine months have been refused since 2015.

Caroline Nokes: The Department does not centrally hold records extending back to the date specified; gathering this data could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Government Departments: Consultants

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of consultancy contracts procured through Crown Commerical Service agreements were awarded on a fixed-price basis in each year since 2015.

Caroline Nokes: The information requested is not held centrally.

Government Departments: Apprentices

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many commercial fast track apprenticeship applications the Government commercial function received in the last round of applications.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many commercial fast stream graduate applications the Government commercial function received in the last round of applications.

Caroline Nokes: A total of 14,244 applications were received in October 2016 for the last round of fast stream graduate applications.A total of 2203 applications were received in early 2017 for the last round of commercial fast track apprentice applications.

Civil Servants: Personal Loans

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many personnel loans from other parts of the Civil Service there have been into the Government commercial function since it was established.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many secondments there have been from inside the Government commercial function to outside bodies since it was established.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many secondments there have been from outside the Government into the Government commercial function since it was established.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many Crown commerical function members of staff are at each pay grade within the Civil Service.

Caroline Nokes: The Government Commercial Function is staffed by employees working across many Civil Service Departments. Records containing the detail requested in these questions are not held centrally and replies to these questions would incur disproportionate costs. The Government Commercial Function (GCF) is a cross-government network of around 4,000 civil servants procuring (or supporting the procurement of) goods and services for the government. It also consists of commercial experts who support departments in managing key commercial contracts, and planning for future commercial needs.

Government Departments: Cybercrime

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the risk posed to Government cyber-security of human error by staff contracted from private sector firms working for Government departments.

Caroline Nokes: Contractors working for Government departments are subject to the same security standards and training as civil servants depending on their access to government systems and information. Basic cyber security awareness is an essential protection against attacks such as email phishing and departments are already providing training for their staff and contractors on this. In addition, the National Cyber Security Centre’s new Active Defence Measures will ensure that government systems have increased protection from phishing and other cyber attacks.

Civil Servants: Recruitment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government has started the pilots for alternative approaches to competency-based recruitment in the civil service as set out in the Government's Civil Service Workforce Plan 2016.

Caroline Nokes: The Civil Service Workforce Plan 2016 - 2020 includes an action to pilot alternative approaches to competency based recruitment and promotion in the Civil Service. A number of pilots across departments are already underway. Once completed, these approaches will be evaluated for implementation across the Civil Service.

Public Sector: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of mystery shopper investigations into central Government bodies have been conducted within the two month timeline for each year since the service was established.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of mystery shopper investigations into bodies that are not central government bodies are completed within three months for each year since the service was established.

Caroline Nokes: The Mystery Shopper Service aims to complete investigations into Central Government procurements within two months, and those into wider public sector procurements within three months. However, the service is dependent on both suppliers and contracting authorities responding in a timely manner, and investigations sometimes require extended communications to determine the facts. Furthermore, suppliers raising cases sometimes come back with follow up questions or to dispute answers provided, resulting in cases taking longer to resolve than hoped. The following table shows the number of cases that have exceeded the target timescale up to 6 September 2017: YearExceeding 2 months for Central GovernmentExceeding 3 months for Wider Public Sector2011-1227 (48%)44 (100%)2012-1326 (59%)64 (57%)2013-1427 (46%)39 (35%)2014-1523 (40%)26 (27%)2015-1619 (56%)36 (42%)2016-1728 (88%)38 (39%)2017-18 (to date)13 (43%)2 (6%)

Public Sector: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many enquiries made to the Government's mystery shopper service were classified as being outside the remit of the service.

Caroline Nokes: As of 6 September 2017, the Mystery Shopper Service had received 1,261 enquiries of which, 91 have fallen outside the scope of the service’s remit.

Public Sector: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many mystery shopper investigations into live procurements have been conducted for each year since the service was established.

Caroline Nokes: The Mystery Shopper Service has investigated the following number of cases related to live procurements up to 6 September 2017: 2010-1152011-12262012-13192013-14352014-15292015-16292016-17242017-18 (to date)16

Government Departments: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the potential profit the Government Property Unit will accrue from Departments from renting out space at market rates under the New Property Model.

Caroline Nokes: Under the New Property Model, the Government Property Agency is intended to be set up as an Executive Agency of the Cabinet Office. As such, GPA will not be able to accrue any profit from Departments under HMT guidance on Managing Public Money. Any surplus arising will be subject to HMT’s Consolidated Budgeting Guidance rules at the time.

Government Departments: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much the Government Property Unit has received from sub-letting in each year since 2012.

Caroline Nokes: The Government Property Unit does not directly manage assets and therefore does not receive any sublet income

Government Departments: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much the Government Property Unit has received in letting fees in each year since 2012.

Caroline Nokes: GPU has not directly received any letting fees since 2012. GPU does not act as an intermediary and therefore does not collect letting fees. The unit does not capture data on letting fees collected by departments or third parties.

Government Departments: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government Property Unit is taking to meet the target of lowering running costs of buildings by 25 per cent through the Hubs programme.

Caroline Nokes: The Government Hubs Programme will reduce government buildings from 800 to around 200 by 2023. This 75% reduction in the estate will significantly reduce the overall running costs.The Government Hubs will provide modern, flexible office space that can be used more efficiently and innovatively to reduce running costs. The space needed for each civil servant to work will reduce to 6 sq m within strategic hubs, outperforming the current occupation density target of 8 sq m per FTE. Smart working is integral to the Hubs to maximise advances in IT and improve staff wellbeing and productivity.

Cabinet Office: Assets

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, in which of the last 10 years his Department has submitted a strategic asset management plan to the Government Property Unit.

Caroline Nokes: The Government Property Unit commissions Strategic Asset Management Plans (SAMPs) from departments on an annual basis. The first commission was in 2014 and there have been three commissions to date. The SAMP articulates the property aspects of a department's business and forms part of the overall planning framework in government linked to each Single Departmental Plan.

Cabinet Office: Secondment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many applications his Department has received for (a) internal loans and (b) secondments from civil servants in each year since 2010.

Caroline Nokes: Information about the number of applications received for (a) internal loans and (b) secondments from civil servants in each year since 2010 is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Cabinet Office: Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of requests for consultancy and temporary staff for his Department were approved via a resource board.

Caroline Nokes: From November 2015 until August 2017 all requests to engage consultancy and temporary staff were approved via a governance channel.

Cabinet Office: Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether requests for consultancy and temporary staff for the his Department must be accompanied by a formal business case.

Caroline Nokes: Since November 2015 all requests for consultancy and temporary staff in the department must be accompanied by a formal business case.

Cabinet Office: Consultants

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of consultancy assignments procured by his Department are paid at a daily rate.

Caroline Nokes: Since November 2015 all consultancy assignments in the department have been paid at a daily rate. Information prior to this date is not held centrally and could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.

Constituencies: Electoral Register

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Electoral Commission report of July 2017, Increases in the number of people on the electoral register since 2015, whether that increase will be included as a factor in boundary review proposals.

Chris Skidmore: Following laws already passed by Parliament, which provided that the current Boundary Review should be based on the electoral registers from 2015, the independent and impartial Boundary Commissions are consulting on their proposals to deliver the boundary changes, and they will submit their final proposals to Parliament in autumn 2018. These reforms will ensure fair and equal representation for the voting public across the United Kingdom. Equalising the size of constituencies in the Boundary Review will ensure everyone’s vote will carry equal weight. Without such boundary reforms, MPs could end up representing constituencies based on data that is over 20 years’ old, disregarding significant changes in demographics, house building and migration.

Elections

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that expenses claims submitted by electoral administrators are audited and settled within the same financial year in which the relevant poll was administered.

Chris Skidmore: Following a poll, each Returning Officer has six months in which to submit an account of spending on a poll funded from the Consolidated Fund. Where a poll takes place six months or less before the end of the financial year, it is not possible to settle such claims within that year. Where polls take place in May, the vast majority of these claims are received by the ECU in the last month before the deadline. This raises an issue with processing the claims, many of which require significant work, within the same financial year, including how quickly queries on a claim are responded to. We are looking at the process with the Association of Electoral Administrators to identify how it may best be operated.

Returning Officers

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that a minimum of two months' notice is given to a returning officer when requesting copies of full election accounts and receipts.

Chris Skidmore: Returning officers (ROs) have six months from the date of a poll to provide their fully completed claim form and supporting evidence to the Elections Claim Unit (ECU) at the Cabinet Office. This provides time for ROs to complete their claim form and gather all the evidence necessary to account for the expenses claimed. The evidence that needs to be submitted with the expenses claim is determined by the scrutiny category assigned to each voting area. ROs are advised that full election accounts and all evidence should be kept readily available. ROs are expected by the National Audit Office to have this information readily available to them after the claim has been submitted.

Schools: Polling Stations

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that schools and academies release premises for use as polling stations during elections.

Chris Skidmore: Legislation provides that the responsibility for designating polling places rests with local authorities. At elections, returning officers will establish polling stations within the polling places. The legislation also provides that the returning officer may use, free of charge, a room in a school, which receives public funding, for the purpose of the poll. Local authorities are required to keep the designated polling places under review. We encourage local authorities to work to ensure that suitable buildings and locations are chosen as polling places.

Parliamentary Elections (Returning Officers’ Charges) (No. 2) Order 2017

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason the Government tabled the Parliamentary Elections (Returning Officers' Charges) (No. 2) Order 2017 to replace the order introduced on 4 May 2017; what the cost of that replacement is; and what lessons have been learnt from that process.

Chris Skidmore: A review of all the initial allocations for England, Scotland and Wales identified that a mixture of erroneous and inconsistent data provided by Returning Officers in previous claims, added to some clerical errors in transposing data, led to some of the allocations for 8 June being incorrect. Cabinet Office produced a revised schedule with amended allocations for the affected constituencies. It was important to get the correct figures published ahead of the general election so that returning officers had clarity on the actual level of funding available to them to assist them in carefully planning their expenses in the run up to the election. There were no costs associated with the publishing of a revised Charges Order. Expense claim forms have now been redesigned to assist returning officers to more fully and accurately complete their claim forms. The Association of Electoral Administrators is providing training to elections staff on claims and this appears also to be leading to more accurately completed forms.

Elections

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will place in the Library a copy of minutes of the (a) A democracy that works for everyone policy statement meeting of 21 June 2017, (b) Accessibility of Elections Group meeting of 21 June 2017, (c) Electoral Integrity Board meeting of 29 June 2017, (d) Electoral Coordination and Advisory Board meeting of 6 June 2017, (e) Electoral Commission Bilateral meeting of 14 June 2017 and (f) his Department's MERP Board of 29 June 2017.

Chris Skidmore: The Government does not publish minutes of meetings as a matter of course and there is no intention to publish these minutes at this time.

Association of Electoral Administrators

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to respond to the Association of Electoral Administrators' report, entitled Pushed to the absolute limit 2016 - the electoral year never to forget, published in September 2016; and what the reason is for the time taken to publish that response.

Chris Skidmore: Our recently-published responses to the statutory reports published by the Electoral Commission on the GLA and PCC elections in May 2016 also addressed the AEA’s outstanding recommendations from their 2016 reports on those polls. Any remaining recommendations by the AEA will be addressed in our response to the Electoral Commission’s report on the 2016 Referendum. We meet the AEA regularly to discuss issues on elections matters.

Elections

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to respond to Law Commission Electoral Law: An Interim Report, published in February 2016; and whether the Government plans to implement the Law Commission's recommendations to bring forward legislative proposals for a single Electoral Administration Act.

Chris Skidmore: We will continue to work with the Law Commissions on how best to implement the recommendations of their review of electoral law and will respond to their report in due course.

Cabinet Office: Brexit

Tom Brake: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which EU legislation within his Department's responsibilities will (a) be incorporated into UK law through the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill and (b) require to be amended under powers in that Bill.

Chris Skidmore: I refer the Rt Hon. member to the answer I gave on 5th September 2017 to PQ 6058.

EU Nationals: Elections

Layla Moran: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy to allow EU27 citizens who are awarded settled status to be able to vote in local, regional and national referendums.

Chris Skidmore: The matter of voting rights of EU citizens in the UK is currently part of the wider negotiation with the EU.

Overseas Students

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many international students from (a) another EU country and (b) outside the EU reside in each parliamentary constituency.

Chris Skidmore: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA Response to PQ7821
(PDF Document, 75.25 KB)

Government Property Unit

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many times the Government Property Unit has applied conditions to its agreements for Departments to extend or renew their lets in each year since 2012.

Caroline Nokes: Since 1 April 2016, 126 applications have been received and of these 13 are recorded with conditions attached to the approval.

Civil Servants: Training

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants have been trained by the Government Digital Service in their digital academy since September 2016.

Caroline Nokes: The GDS academy has trained 2837 public sector workers since 1 September 2016.

Government Digital Service: Staff

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many members of staff of the Government Digital Service have come from the civil service fast stream.

Caroline Nokes: The Department does not centrally hold records extending back to the date specified; gathering this data could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Government Digital Service: Finance

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the value is of savings from the Governmental Digital Service's spending controls in each year since 2011.

Caroline Nokes: Total savings from digital and technology spend controls, which are operated by Government Digital Service on behalf of HM Treasury, are set out below. These have been audited by GIAA on behalf of NAO.2012/13: £365m*2013/14: £91m2014/15: £391m2015/16: £339m * this figure also includes transformation savings

Government Digital Service: Finance

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to make any changes to the spending controls issued by the Government Digital Service.

Caroline Nokes: The Cabinet Office continues to keep all its spending controls under review to ensure they remain fit for purpose.

Government Departments: Ministerial Responsibility

Catherine West: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he expects to provide an updated list of ministerial responsibilities, including for executive agencies and non-ministerial departments; and if copies will be made available in the Vote Office of the House of Commons.

Chris Skidmore: The updated List of Ministerial Responsibilities will be published shortly on GOV.UK. Copies will be available in the Vote Office of the House of Commons, and also on request.

Thyroid Cancer

Jim Shannon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people in UK have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer in each of the last five years.

Chris Skidmore: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply. 



UKSA Response to PQ8491
(PDF Document, 70.62 KB)

Police and Crime Commissioners: Elections

Louise Haigh: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether it is his policy to change the electoral system for police and crime commissioner elections.

Chris Skidmore: In its manifesto the Government has set out the intention to extend the use of the First Past the Post system to Police and Crime Commission and mayoral elections, replacing the currently used Supplementary Vote system.

Public Sector: Hemsworth

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of working-age people in Hemsworth constituency worked in the public sector in each year since 2010.

Chris Skidmore: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply. 



UKSA Response to PQ8817
(PDF Document, 160.8 KB)

Government Communication Service: Staff

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government has plans to charge recipients for work done by civil servants working for the Government Communications Service abroad.

Chris Skidmore: The GCS Knowledge & Capability Unit does not currently recover costs from recipients for projects. The Unit will regularly review funding models to ensure they provide value for money to the taxpayer.

Government Communication Service: Staff

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants in the Government Communications Service have been assigned to work on issues relating to the UK leaving the EU.

Caroline Nokes: This information is not collected or held centrally.

Government Communication Service

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many projects the (a) Government Communications Service and (b) Government Communications Service International have completed since inception.

Chris Skidmore: The Government Communication Service has been running, in various formats, since its establishment in 1917. The recently published Government Communications Plan 2017/18 provides details of current activities and can be found here https://gcs.civilservice.gov.uk/communications-plan/ Since its inception in September 2015, the GCS Knowledge & Capability Unit has completed 5 projects.

Government Communication Service

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress has been made on making the Government Communications Service a new function that helps deliver the annual Government Communications Plan by filling in essential roles for priority communications campaigns.

Chris Skidmore: The Government Communication Service has been running, in various formats, since its establishment in 1917. There are no plans to make the Government Communications Service a new function that fills capacity gaps on priority communications campaigns. HMG staff can be redeployed across government departments to cover priorities where feasible. The Government Communications Plan was published on 23rd August 2017 and can be found here: https://gcs.civilservice.gov.uk/communications-plan/

Constituencies

Hywel Williams: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what model the Boundary Commission will employ in its new review of constituency boundaries.

Hywel Williams: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what model the Boundary Commission will employ in its new review of constituency boundaries in Wales.

Chris Skidmore: The rules for boundary Reviews are set out in the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986, as amended by the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011. The rules stipulate that the number of constituencies is 600 and that all constituencies, subject to a limited number of exceptions, must be between 95% and 105% of the United Kingdom electoral quota, which is the average number of electors per constituency. Reviews are to be conducted every five years.The rules are designed to ensure that there is fairness in the setting of parliamentary constituencies and having seats of an equal size will ensure everyone’s vote will carry equal weight.

General Election 2017

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will place in the Library a copy of any written advice given by his Department's Head of Propriety and Ethics to Ministers on the timing and length of campaigns for the 2017 General Election.

Chris Skidmore: It is a well-established convention that government does not routinely make public civil servants’ advice to Ministers.

Drugs: Misuse

Louise Haigh: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has plans to remove drugs questions on illegal drugs from the Crime Survey for England and Wales.

Chris Skidmore: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply. 



UKSA Response to PQ9378
(PDF Document, 64.91 KB)

House of Commons Commission

Elizabeth Tower: Repairs and Maintenance

John Spellar: To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, what steps have been taken to ensure the use of British materials in the refurbishment of the Elizabeth Tower and its machinery.

Tom Brake: The procurement process for the final contract for the refurbishment of the Elizabeth Tower is ongoing via an open competition in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and Parliament’s procurement policies. In order to comply with the Regulations, Parliament cannot specifically require the use of British materials or machinery when letting contracts, as the Regulations prohibit references to a specific country of origin or production.The scaffolding contract was awarded via the same method in November 2016. The steel in the steelwork structures used in supporting the scaffolding on the Tower is primarily sourced from British suppliers.